Project: NEON
by The Lost Hokage
Summary: I’ve already changed the description for this story twice, so I’ll try and keep this simple: What if, instead of being summoned to a disaster as a ‘last hope’, an OC was sent from a destroyed Earth to Gamindustri?
1. An Important Task

The sky was a revolting grey. It had been grey for a very long time, and no one currently alive could remember a time when the sky was any other color. To most, a sky that was not gray was nothing more than a myth or urban legend, or somewhere to be visited in dreams.

"Move! Move! Get out of here!" A rough, angry male voice rang out through this grey sky, followed shortly by an explosion that kicked up a cloud of soot and ash. A small group of people numbering about fifteen scuttled close to the ground, making their way towards the north, or rather, what they believed to be the north.

"What's our objective, general?"

"Right now, we're trying not to die, so get on it!" The general dove to cover, the hydraulics in his armor screaming for him to be more careful. Nevertheless, he fired a few blasts from his laser rifle in the direction he had come, not bothering to check whether he had hit his mark.

"Got it! Apple, toss one!" A young, rather high-pitched female voice rang out from behind another helmet. She took a quick look behind her and ducked behind cover as the general did, narrowly avoiding a laser blast. Complying with her request, Apple threw a small cylinder about five meters, where it stopped and emitted a powerful burst of electricity. The group promptly picked themselves up and resumed running, slinging their weapons over their backs once they had rounded a corner.

The general stole a glance back before turning back to his squad. "We're going to run back to base. Neon, I have an important task for you once we get there."

The girl looked at him, confused. "Wha-"

"Not now!"

Everyone obliged and fell silent, making haste towards their headquarters. A loud thud sounded behind them, accompanied by a tremor in the ground and the worried gasps of the entire crew.

Despite the reactions of those around her, Neon remained unfazed. "These tin cans just don't give up!" She pulled her weapon into ready position and aimed it towards the source of the sound. As she held the trigger, energy began to build up around the muzzle of the gun.

"Wait! We're almost at base! Save your-"

The difference in rank meant little to Neon, as she continued to charge and interrupted the general. "Like hell! This guy's gonna be on our tail if we don't down 'em, here and now!"

She dramatically released the trigger, sending a huge beam of reddish-orange energy forward and propelling her backward. She crashed into the ground two meters from where she had fired, and proceeded to painfully slide half a meter further. Barely able to lift her head, Neon saw a huge cloud of dust rise from where she had fired, and she laid back down, satisfied with her work.

"Neon! Are you alright?" The general and the rest of the squad ran over to her and helped her to her feet, not caring if there were any more enemies in the vicinity.

"Agh…yeah, I'm fine." She put her left hand over her right shoulder and spun it around, the hydraulics of her armor creaking as she did so. Bending over, she picked up her weapon and began to hug it rather lovingly. "More importantly, my dearest Shelly is still A-okay…"

The rest of her group stared at her in confusion. No matter how many times they saw her do this, they never became accustomed to it. Neon seemed to have a romantic love for guns, caressing them in her free time and even assigning a personalized name to each one that 'fit its personality'. Before she could fully escape to another mental place, the general walked over and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"That was good work, but you can't keep doing that. It's bad for your armor and for you."

Neon looked at him and waved her hand down, slinging her weapon over her back once more. "Oh, please. The power suits can take this punishment and then some. It'll be…" She was interrupted when a loud creak emerged from the armor's right shoulder, and a snapping sound could be heard. "Fine…"

The general facepalmed and shook his head in disappointment. "When we get back to base, make sure you repair your suit. I'll tell you your task after that."

She pumped her fist into the air energetically. "Sweet! Can do!"

Everyone sighed and began walking back to base. Neon seemed to be constantly energetic, even in the face of death. While this was appreciated when morale was low, this characteristic often made her appear foolish to her squad. Some soldiers took efforts to avoid her entirely due to this, but this did not change the fact that Neon was exceedingly popular, especially among the males.

After a five minute walk, the group reached a large chrome door that was covered in soot and dust. To the left side was a small panel with a keypad and retina recognition software, with wires running to the top of the door rather conspicuously. The general approached this panel and typed a password quickly, having his retina scanned afterward for additional security. After these processes, the door slowly opened, groaning loudly as it moved across the dust-covered ground. Everyone hurried in and closed the door behind them, taking a sigh of relief once they were safely in.

"Priority one: fix up my suit!" The back panels of Neon's suit opened up, allowing her to quickly jump out and gather tools. "I'm sorry, Remus…I let you get hurt…" She hugged the suit tightly, running her hand over the chest area.

Apple walked over to her and chuckled, taking a bite into the fruit he was named after. "You named the suit? More importantly, you gave it a male name? So, that means…"

She blushed bright red and scooted closer to the suit, still hugging it. When she saw his disapproving gaze, she blushed even deeper and popped one foot into the air, leaning against her suit with all her weight.

"You're unbelievable." Apple sighed and tossed the apple core into an empty tool box delegated as a trash can and jumped out of his suit. He was a lean young man with red hair and black eyes, making him represent the fruit of his namesake quite comically. "Well, don't let me stop you from your repairs. Get to it."

Neon nervously obliged, working quickly and efficiently. She removed the metal plating on the right shoulder and exposed the inner machinery, where she saw the problem. The force of the shot had caused the plating to cave in, thus blocking the hydraulics from moving properly and even bending some of the more sensitive tubes. Setting to work, she first performed the easy task of repairing the armor itself, and once that was done, she straightened out the bent mechanisms with impressive delicacy. She then replaced the plating and locked it into place, and, having fixed her prized suit, she re-entered it and approached the general.

"You wanted to see me, general?" Shelly was slung around her back, symbolic of her protective nature. She never once let one of her guns out of her sight.

"Ah, you're done. I'll need you to follow me." He beckoned for her to follow him to the right wing of the base. Neon knew that this was where information was handled and stored, but she was surprised when the general took a right turn and walked up to a chrome door with a diagonal blue stripe.

She raised her finger and narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Uh, isn't this a supply closet, general?"

He chuckled and scanned his retina, opening the door. "Notionally, it is. That's also what 98% of the people here think. You're about to join that 2%."

Within the room was a large machine that occupied most of the interior area. All around, people manned terminals and observed statistics, turning dials and adjusting scanners when necessary. The general quietly cleared his throat and shouted,

"It is time."

Everyone changed their purpose immediately upon hearing this. They all performed different tasks—those who managed dials now monitored computer screens, and those who monitored charts and graphs managed dials.

Neon took a hesitant step forward. "What…what is this place?"

The general placed his hand on her shoulder and walked her forward. "This is our emergency transporter. Naturally, since it is an 'emergency' transporter, it is kept highly classified and tucked away from most. Only those who have proven themselves to be trustworthy can even look at this room, let alone enter it."

The girl fidgeted sheepishly. "Aww, shucks…am I that good?"

He laughed and shook his head. "I haven't chosen you for your intelligence or physical strength." Seeing her dejected slump, he changed course, "I chose you for your weapons expertise and adaptability. No matter what mess we found ourselves in before, you faced it with a smile…and Shelly. Now, come on then."

The two walked up to the machine, and the general directed Neon to stand on an elevated platform in the center. As she complied, he gave her a small flash-drive and began to give instructions.

"We are teleporting you to an uncharted sector of multidimensional space. We know they have incredibly advanced technology since we've detected radio signatures from them for quite a while. When you get there, try and find a computer that can support this flash drive, and plug it in." He placed his fist on his chest in a form of salute, and Neon did the same. "Unfortunately, that is all I can tell you. The rest remains classified. Good luck, soldier. And come back safe."

Neon nodded firmly and assured him, "I won't let you down, general. The fate of humanity rests with me, right?"

He smiled and nodded. "Yes. Yes, it does."

There was a bright flash of light, and Neon was transported.

AN: It's a short chapter, but I really just needed to introduce Neon and the setting. And don't worry—the lack of description for their enemies is intentional. It'll be described more later on.


	2. Neon’s Arrival

There were two things that confused Neon as she flew through multidimensional space. The first was where she was going—she had been traveling for more than three units of Standard Dimensional Time, which meant that she had traveled at least half way across all of the universe. The second puzzle was why the general had remained so secretive. All he had told her was to insert the flash-drive into any computer that could support it. No details, hows, whens, or whys were given. All of these things put together made Neon feel sicker than she already did as she was catapulted through space.

"I could totally go for some beer right now…" She quietly mumbled to herself as she tightly embraced Shelly, making sure she did not lose it on the trip. She licked her lips behind her helmet and tried to satiate her thirst by swallowing huge amounts of saliva, but her efforts did nothing as she still felt an incredible thirst. "How long is this trip gonna take…"

As soon as her complaint left her mouth, Neon slammed into a hard surface rather painfully, causing her vision to swim. As she adjusted her helmet and sat up straight, she recognized immediately that she was in another world.

"The sky…" After noticing the sky, she took no effort to analyze her surroundings and directed her gaze directly upward. She took a marveled gasp at the wondrous blue shade and puffy white clouds that the computer in her armor failed to identify. She laid back and noticed that her armor had not impacted dust or soot, and as she looked around, she was filled with even more wonder.

All around, as far as she could see, were bright green blades of grass accompanied by vibrant flowers of all different colors. Towering trees dominated the sky about five meters away from her, their branches swaying in the wind. She ran her hands through the grass, and as she observed that it was soft, she planted her face into it.

"Why…why am I crying?" Sure enough, tears were running down her face, forcing her to lift her helmet's visor to wipe them. A gentle breeze blew by, and as Neon smelled the beautiful fragrance of the nearby flowers, she began to cry even more, though not out of sadness. "I think…I think this is heaven…"

The young girl stood up again and stretched her arms out, absorbing the scenery all around her. She twirled in a circle a few times and laughed giddily, prancing around through the grass. This continued for many minutes until she was thoroughly exhausted, and then she laid upon the ground, Shelly next to her. Neon held the weapon's stock the same way one would hold their lover's hand and stared into the sky, watching the clouds flow by.

"Heh…that one looked like a bullet." She raised her finger and pointed at the cloud in question, which bore a string resemblance to a rifle bullet like those littered along the ground in her home world. Neon shook her head violently to remove these thoughts from her mind. This new place was better than her home, and it would be her new home until she had completed the mission.

"Shit…I did have a mission, didn't I?" Neon groaned and picked up Shelly delicately. "Let's go, dear. Priority one: find a computer that can support this flash drive!"

The girl tapped the side of her helmet and tried to activate the built-in map system, but was met with bright red letters reading "NOT CALIBRATED TO LOCATION PROVIDER" across the middle of her visor. She had expected that to happen, and had really only followed the procedure as a force of habit. Unfortunately, this meant she had no idea as to where to go, so she decided her route through the rather childish method of pointing her finger out, closing her eyes, and spinning in a circle for five seconds.

"Looks like we're going…that way!" Neon spoke with completely unwarranted confidence as she set off towards her selected direction, Shelly slung across her back. It took all of her willpower to resist the temptation to prance in the nature, and she had to constantly motivate herself with saving her squad and all of humanity back home.

"Goo!" She was shook out of her thoughts when a plump blue blob of gelatin with the features of a dog bounced along towards her. She knelt down beside it, prompting it to jump on top of her helmet and wag its tail excitedly.

Neon confusedly muttered to herself, "'Goo?' Is that…some sort of language?" She plucked the creature off of her head and held it in her hands. "Resident of this dimension, I come in peace as the representative of…" She stopped herself short as she thought of a name for her dimension. She had never thought of this before, as nobody she knew had ever traveled beyond dimensions. "Earth. Yes, yes, I am the representative of Earth. I come in peace."

"Goo!" The creature plucked itself from her hands and returned to its place along the ground, its beaming smile still plastered on its face.

"Do…you speak English?"

"Goo!"

"Russkiy?" Neon completely butchered her accent and failed to roll her 'r'.

"Goo!"

"Hangeug-eo?" She tried to sound like a stereotypical character from a ninja film, even going so far as striking a corny pose.

"Español?" The girl placed unnecessary emphasis on the slurred 'n', outstretching her hand like a character in a television drama.

"Goo!"

Neon sighed to herself and shook her head. "This is going nowhere. Resident of this dimension, I must bid you farewell." She waved to the creature and walked away, only to hear it bounce rapidly behind her. "Is…something wrong?" She noticed that it was bouncing in the opposite direction and making sounds that she could interpret to be scared whimpers. Fearing the worst, she slowly pivoted around and raised Shelly to ready position, but she was completely surprised by what she saw.

A massive wolf easily measuring five meters from ground to shoulder snarled at her and snapped its jaws menacingly. Despite her straining as a soldier, Neon completely crumpled upon seeing this, her legs shaking violently and frightful whimpers escaping from her mouth. As the wolf snarled again and lowered itself to a hunting stance, she hesitantly pressed the trigger down on her weapon, charging energy around the muzzle again, which seemed to scare the wolf. Neon stood straight once more in a sense of false triumph and stood tall again, only for the wolf to snarl once more and reduce her to a shaking mess.

"I-I'll h-have you k-know that S-Shelley here i-is a…" The wolf growled angrily at her, causing Neon to yelp in fear and recoil backwards. "S-sorry! I-I'm s-sorry!" In her fear, she failed to notice that her weapon was completely charged and ready to fire, and also failed to notice that this was the only reason the wolf was staying back. "Oh g-god, p-please don't e-eat me…I'm s-sorry…" She released the trigger in fear, shooting a massive beam of energy that blew her back several meters and created a miniature trench in the ground. The beam pierced through the wolf's sizable chest and emerged through the other side, continuing to the sky. The monster took a few pained steps before collapsing to the ground, dead.

"Hah…hah…you d-did it…Shelly…" Despite how hot the weapon was, Neon began to cuddle with Shelly, feeling herself fall into a deep sleep moments after.

Meanwhile, in the bustling city of Planeptune, havoc was commencing and people were scrambling for safety. A massive beam of energy had just destroyed the top corner of a business building, and the rubble's collision with the ground had caused quite a bit of unrest. While the police were trying to sort out the problem, paramedics raced to the scene to ensure nobody was injured in the event. Luckily, they found that the only damage had been the building, and that all of the people in the building were safe, if not a little shaken up.

"What the hell was that?" One especially brave man spoke up in the crowd, adjusting his hat and wiping some sweat from his brow.

"I…I don't know…" A mother nervously held her son close as she tried to process her situation.

"We should inform Lady Purple Heart. Does anyone here have a phone?"

"It's already done, folks! Histy forced me out of the house, so I shall solve this problem for you along with my dearest sister! You guys just sit tight." The highly energetic voice of the nation's resident goddess rang through the air and immediately placed everyone at ease.

"Oh, thank goddess…wait, she's already here." Miscellaneous voices of agreement emerged from the crowd as everyone resumed their normal schedule.

"So, Nep Jr, what should we call this case? I'm thinking 'The Case of the Mysterious Energy Beam'. How about you?" As usual, Neptune had no sense of danger, and immediately thought to name the case she was working on.

"Hmm…how about 'A Building Destroyed! 'Wrath of the Malevolent Energy Beam'. It sounds like an action anime episode name!" Nepgear's eyes twinkled as she recalled watching such an anime with her sister when she was young.

Neptune snapped her fingers and clicked her tongue to show her approval. "Ooh, good one! Anyway, we should probably figure out what's up with this energy beam, so let's go! Forward march!" She took off excitedly, running towards the source of the beam with her sister close behind.

After about five minutes of non-stop running, the two arrived in an open field full of lush grass and tall trees. In the middle lay Neon, cuddling her weapon while in a deep sleep. Surprised at the sight of this, Neptune skidded to a stop, ripping up blades of grass.

"Is that our mark?" She walked closed and examined the scene. Meanwhile, Nepgear displayed no such inhibition, dashing over to examine Neon's power suit.

"Ooh! I don't recognize this technology! This armor doesn't come from any of our nations!" Her eyes twinkled with a fiery passion as she reached to disassemble the armor.

"Wait, Nep Jr! I'm pretty sure there's a rule against fiddling with a crime scene!" Neptune barely managed to stop her sister before she did something disastrous.

"Aww, but this isn't a crime scene, is it?" Nepgear did her best to look dejected to try and sway her sister.

Neon let out a groan and sat up. "Ugh…just five more minutes…" In her stupor, she attempted to rub her eyes, but was met with only the metal of her helmet. She looked at the two girls in front of her, and curled up into a ball. "This is embarrassing…" Neon instinctively grabbed Shelly and held it tightly.

"See, Nep Jr? You might've hurt this poor person." She walked over and sat in the grass. "Who are you?"

Upon hearing this question, Neon shot up into a standing position, holding Shelly in low ready. "Residents of this dimension, I come in peace as the representative of Earth." The two goddesses sat in utter confusion. Noticing this, she continued, "Do you not speak English either? Uh…Russkiy?"

Neptune perked up. "Oh! Da…?"

Neon put her hands to her head and began to panic. She thought to herself, " _Crap! I only know that one word! If that's the native language here, I'm screwed!"_

As she panicked, Nepgear tentatively raised her hands in an effort to calm her down. "Uh…are you okay? Would you like some water?"

"Yes! Water would be…" Neon looked at her curiously. "So you do speak English? But…she doesn't?" She pointed at Neptune, who seemed to be completely lost.

Neptune laughed and proceeded to explain as Nepgear rifled through her inventory for a bottle of water and handed it to Neon. "We speak English. I was just shocked when you said 'Earth' and then proceeded to speak in another language."

Neon turned away and slammed the bottle of water, trying to hide her face. She closed her helmet visor, turned back around again and proceeded to ask, "Do you not know where Earth is?"

Nepgear shook her head. "We've made some pretty accurate maps with our scanning technology, but we've never been there ourselves." Her eyes lit up again. "May I disassemble your armor? Pretty please? I'll leave everything as I found it, I've just never been this close with Earth technology before!"

The girl backed away with impressive speed and curled into a defensive position. "N-no! Remus is mine and mine alone!"

Neptune was extremely confused. "Hold up, 'Remus'? Who or what is Remus?"

"Remus is my armor, and one of two partners I hold dear. The other is Shelly here." She held the weapon tightly, and accidentally fired an uncharged shot into the air. "Uh…sorry about that…?"

The goddess pointed a finger accusatively at her. "Aha! So you *are* the cause of that energy beam!"

Neon yelped and put her hands over her head. "Ah! I'm s-sorry! I didn't m-mean it! There was a m-meanie wolf, and…"

Nepgear realized the implications of this and handed her another water bottle. "You fought a Fenrir? And the beam still managed to break a building? Goodness, just how powerful is that weapon?"

"Aww, shucks." Neon held Shelly close again and began to caress it, which greatly off-put the two goddesses. "I made her myself. She's my greatest trophy, and I love her to bits!" She turned away and slammed the water bottle again, incinerating it with an uncharged blast from Shelly.

"Right…uh…you don't seem to be bad, so I'll let you off the hook for that beam incident. Just point it somewhere else next time." Neptune put her hands behind her head and whistled a nameless tune to herself.

Nepgear smiled and turned back to the Basilicom. "Why don't you come with us to the Basilicom? You can tell us about Earth when we get there."

Neon nodded firmly and slung Shelly across her back. "Can do. Earth is…a long story."


	3. Crisis on Earth

"We're here, but…"

Neptune took a direct approach, "Let's not beat around the bush here. Why are you crying?"

For the last several minutes, Neon had buried her face in her hands and sobbed quietly to herself, mumbling something incomprehensible. She tried to wipe her tears, but was, of course, met with only the metal of her helmet, which seemed to make her cry more. "I…I had to abandon my guns back home…" As she finished her sentence, Neon broke down again.

The Candidate tried to diplomatically calm her down, "W-well, I'm sure you'll get chances to get new guns in your time here. My friend is really skilled with guns, so I'm sure she could help you, too."

Neon turned away and lifted the visor on her helmet to wipe her tears. "F-fine…I'll wait 'till then, I guess. But I'm still not happy about it!"

The goddess waved her hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, you did promise us something, right?" She leaned in closer with excited eyes. "Tell us about Earth, and all your crazy adventures!"

The girl seemed to perk up at this, losing her previous sense of despair. "Can do." She cleared her throat and began, "Earth is a long way away. As in, a _really_ long way away. Over there, things have gone south and have been going south for quite a while. It started…geez, was it 50 years ago? Whenever it started, it was way before I was born. I'm 19, by the way."

Nepgear's face worsened as she proclaimed, "You're fighting as a soldier at 19?! Isn't that counted as child soldier use?"

Neon nodded gravely. "It was, but those laws had to be suspended since we got so deep in trouble." She adjusted Shelly onto her lap and began to stroke it like a pet, ignoring the expressions given to her by the goddesses. "For a very long time, humans on Earth have relied on robots to do work for them. The bots did everything—household chores, military, intelligence. Name something, and a robot fulfills that purpose." As she saw Nepgear perk up and grow excited, she chuckled and killed her hopes, "Don't get too happy. It's not a cheerful story."

The Candidate's expression returned to neutral as she explained, "Sorry, I'm just super interested in Earth technology. Your robots operate completely differently from ours, and I've been wanting to get my hands on one for so long!"

The girl chuckled and mumbled to herself, "That explains your interest in my armor earlier…" She clapped her hands together and resumed her monologue, "Anyways, these robots lacked free will. This was not an accident. Humans purposefully made these robots and stripped them of conscience. This is where things get worse." Neon looked at Nepgear curiously. "Tech wiz, do you know what a SUP is?"

Despite the fact that the question was not geared towards her, Neptune casually chimed in, "Oh, yeah! It's a greeting used by young teens who think they're cool!"

Her younger sister scolded her, "No, Neptune! It's a 'self-updating program'!" She looked back to Neon. "Er…it's a self-updating program. I've heard of it before, but we don't use them a lot here."

Neon nodded in understanding. "Gotcha. Well, humans relied on the SUP file for basically everything. A program that adapted and changed itself as it worked, constantly improving upon any faults it had—it was the key to the future. That was, of course, until the robots got free will."

The Candidate seemed confused, "Well, what's the problem with a robot having free will? Basically all of the robots here have it."

Neon scooted away uncomfortably and continued, "Robots were made to serve humans. They were never meant to make choices for themselves. The day that a servant gains the power to overthrow its masters is the day chaos begins." Despite her face being hidden by her helmet, the goddesses could tell Neon was grimacing in disgust. "If your robots have free will, I don't think I'll handle well here."

Neptune intervened to defuse the situation, "Well, I'm sure you won't have many run-ins with them. If you do, just try not to blow their circuits out."

She took a deep breath and composed herself. "I'll try not to, but only because you asked me to." After an uncomfortable pause, Neon continued the story, "Well, I'll set aside the debate of whether robots should have free will or not. Either way, they got it, and disaster struck. With their free will, the robots decided to eliminate humans. We're not sure why, but they did, and it was brutal." Neon clenched her fists in rage. "Humanity's been on the losing side ever since. We've been forced to run around in a game of cat and mouse. I was sent here to try and stop it."

The goddess seemed uncomfortably happy with this situation. "Ooh, this reminds me of the plot of that old action movie! But, I guess you were sent to a different dimension instead of the past…"

Her sister scolded her again, "Neptune, now's not the time!" She looked back up at Neon with an apologetic gaze, "Sorry about her. What do you have to do? We'll help as much as possible."

"Nah, it's not a problem." She reached into her armor's storage unit and pulled out the flash drive the general had given her. "My squad leader just told me to stick this into any computer that supports it. I dunno if I have to do anything else though." She handed the flash drive to Nepgear, who began to analyze it carefully. "Do you think you have anything here that can work with this?"

After a few seconds of close observation, Nepgear shook her head gravely and handed the drive back to Neon. "This is so different from what we use here. Sorry, but I don't think we have anything."

"Not a problem. I'm sure I'll find something." Neon took the drive and replaced it in her armor's storage unit.

Neptune abruptly changed the subject, "So, there's one thing you haven't shown us yet. Why don't you pop out of that suit and show us what you look like?"

The girl flustered and backed away. "W-what? Why?"

"You're a main character! Not _the_ main character, mind you, but you've still got a huge role here, so it's not cool to hide out the whole time!" The goddess pointed her finger at Neon's face for dramatic effect. "Show thy face!"

After an uncomfortable hesitation, Neon sighed and pulled a trigger in her armor. The back plates opened and lifted, allowing her to climb out. As she stepped out into view, she hesitantly asked, "H-how do I look?" Without her armor's voice modulator, her voice was quiet and shy, almost like Rom's. She stood just a half inch shorter than Nepgear, which still made her slightly taller than Neptune. For clothing, the girl wore an olive green military uniform that clung to her body rather tightly, strongly accentuating her features while still giving enough space for her decently sized chest to fit comfortably. Her gloves and boots were black, contrasting strongly with the uniform's homogenous color scheme.

Despite being a teenager, her face was clear of the usual oil plagues faced by people her age. Atop her head was a cap that matched the uniform's color, having a black base ring and green centerpiece. In the very center was a black star, the centerpiece on an otherwise incomplete uniform.

Neptune analyzed the girl in front of her before whistling to herself. "Lookin' good there. I dunno why you were hiding yourself this whole time."

Nepgear nodded slowly. "You could probably pass as a Leanbox native without the uniform."

The goddess' eyes went elsewhere as she ogled Neon's chest area. "Hmph…I'm a little jealous that you got more than me there, though…"

Neon blushed furiously and covered her bosom with her hands. "D-do you always judge girls by their b-b-breast size?"

Nepgear chided her sister once more, "Not so quickly, Neptune! We should slowly introduce her to our people!"

"S-so you do!" She crossed her arms in an 'X' over her chest and turned away shyly. "S-stay back!"

Neptune laughed wildly for a few seconds before composing herself. "Okay, okay. Now, why don't we go to Lastation and get you squared away with the tsun-in-training? I'm sure you'll hit it off well."

The earthling tilted her head in confusion and asked, "Tsun…in-training? What?"

The goddess shook her head disappointedly. "My, you really don't know much about this place huh? Well, you'll see. Off to Lastation!"

Neon held out her hands and stopped the excitement. "Wait, wait! Can I get a map or something? My armor hasn't downloaded the data for this place and…"

"Don't sweat it. We'll show you soon enough!"

Neptune abruptly transformed, bathing herself in light to block her newly nude form from perverted eyes. Her processor equipped and her physique altered, changing her from Neptune to Purple Heart. Neon could only watch with a dropped jaw as Nepgear did the same shortly afterward.

"Ahh…" Neon was suddenly stricken with a nosebleed, but she seemed not to care. "So, what's the chest expansion for?"

Purple Heart handed her a tissue and proceeded to explain, "The fastest way to Lastation is by flight. Unfortunately, since none of the nations have made many commercial aircraft, we have to fly personally."

The girl realized the implications of this and her eyes went wide as she stopped her bleeding. "So wait…you're going to fly me? To a different country?" She re-entered her armor and took a deep breath. "I'd be excited if I weren't so anxious…"

The goddess walked out to the balcony and held out her hand. "Don't worry. I have a strong grip."

Neon took hold of Purple Heart's hand and braced herself. "Somehow, that doesn't help much…"

Despite her protests, the three took to the skies, soaring many kilometers above the ground at high speeds. Neon looked down and saw Planeptune fly past her, taking note of the busy streets and various nature parks throughout the city. She then looked to either side and saw the two figures flying her, struggling to match them with the completely normal girls she had seen earlier.

"Uhh…quick question?" Both goddesses looked down to her. "May I ask how we're flying? If you say 'with wings', I will never forgive you."

Purple Heart laughed at this and shook her head, redirecting her gaze ahead of her. "There is still quite a lot we haven't explained about our world. Nepgear and I are goddesses, and we rule over the nation of Planeptune together. We're powered by Shares, the faith the people of Planeptune place in us. When we have enough, we can transform into these forms, allowing us to fly."

"S-so, I'm being f-flown by two goddesses?" Purple Heart merely nodded at this, throwing Neon into even more confusion. After a few moments, the girl simply fell limp and lost consciousness, muttering something incomprehensible about her current situation.

"It appears the prospect of goddesses overwhelmed her a bit too much." Purple Heart managed a chuckle and picked up speed. "Why don't we try and have her on a hard surface when she wakes up?"

Nepgear agreed to this and the two picked up speed, now soaring over the grasslands in between Planeptune and Lastation. Ahead of them, the Land of Black Regality came closer into view, the huge skylines of industrial buildings taking up their view. Their target, the Basilicom, came closer, its dominant height and gold details making it distinctive from the other buildings.

"Alright, we're here. There should be a bench around here…ah, there it is." Purple Heart and Nepgear set Neon down onto a bench, laying her on her left side and placing Shelly in a spooning position with her. Despite being asleep, Neon seemed to appreciate this very much.

"Neptune…" Noire walked out to the balcony with a disapproving look. "Why are you here and who did you bring with you?"

"This girl came to us from Earth," Purple Heart explained. "I'll let you ask your other questions directly to her." She and Nepgear proceeded to fly back to Planeptune, leaving Noire with the unconscious Neon and many unanswered questions.

"I guess getting her to a more comfortable place wouldn't be a bad start," Noire reasoned with herself. She slung Shelly across the girl's back and carried her to a couch in the Basilicom atrium. Once there, she laid her down and replaced the weapon in the odd position it was in earlier, and Neon quickly wrapped her arms around it. "What is with her and that gun?"

The elevator dinged and opened, revealing Uni with a stack of finished papers. She set them down upon a filing cabinet and walked over, closely investigating the scene. "Noire, who is this? I don't think I've ever seen this person before."

The goddess displayed similar confusion. "I have no idea! Neptune just came, dropped her off, and told me to ask any questions directly."

The Candidate facepalmed. "Well, it looks like we've got an interesting day ahead of us."


	4. Neon Black

AN: Just realized that I made a small muck-up when describing how Shelly fired. I said that energy built up around the muzzle, when this isn't the case. You'll see the error fixed in this chapter. You'll also notice that Neon starts calling Uni "ma'am". It was actually a mistake for her not to do that with Neptune and Nepgear—I'll keep this trend throughout the rest of the story.

"I'll put this simply." Uni took a deep breath and said as calmly as possible, "What in Gamindustri are you doing?"

"Huh?" Neon nervously sat up straight, even pounding her fist against her chest out of habit. "Uh…ma'am! I was, uh…cuddling with…Shelly…ma'am…" Her composure seemed to whittle, eventually being completely lost as she stopped talking and resumed stroking her weapon.

 _How do I even respond to this?_ Uni tried desperately to figure out a course of action, but found herself overwhelmed by the oddity of the situation. While Neon was still asleep, Noire had left to do a quest, leaving the sleeping girl in Uni's hands. All was well until she had actually woken up—nothing was the same after that.

"Do you…not like having guns in your room?" Neon laid Shelly on the couch, though she clearly seemed uncomfortable. "I can move her, if you want."

Uni waved her arms in refusal. She stammered, "N-no, that's not it! Guns are fine with me! It's just, I've never seen someone get so…close…with one before." Her voice trailed off as she thought of the girl before her cuddling with her weapon awkwardly.

Neon perked up upon hearing this. She energetically asked, "Do you have any guns, ma'am? I'd love to seem them!"

The Candidate wasn't quite sure how to react to this. She was glad that she had found someone who shared her interests, but at the same time, this was somewhat extreme. "Y-yeah, I do. They're in my room, if you want to follow me."

"After you, ma'am!" She stood up, but suddenly stopped and pulled her arms to her chest. "Ah! S-sorry!" She walked as lightly as possible towards the balcony doors, letting out a sigh of relief when she got there.

"What're you apologizing for? You haven't done anything yet." Uni was slowly beginning to lose her patience, but kept a calm demeanor about her nonetheless. She figured that, with Noire temporarily gone, it was her duty to properly introduce this helpless girl to Gamindustri.

"You've got such a nice carpet, ma'am. I don't want to track dirt through the room." She pulled the trigger in her armor once more, releasing the mechanisms and allowing her to exit. "I almost forgot, since Planeptune's floor is mostly tile."

The Candidate watched the scene unfold in front of her, with especial interest in Neon's newly revealed form. "You really don't have to, b

ut if you insist…" She turned towards her room and gestured for her to follow. "My room's over here."

Neon sheepishly chuckled and said, "After you, ma'am!" When she walked, she kept her shoulders tucked in and her figure as narrow as possible, as if there were tight-fitting walls on either side of her. The only sound emanating from her were the impacts of her boots on the ground and her quiet, sharp breaths, as if she was waiting for something to jump out at any moment.

"Here," Uni pointed inside her room after opening the door for Neon. "Take a look around. This is what I've got."

The girl entered the room nervously at first, but upon seeing what was within, she lost all inhibition and burst into energy. "Oh my god! Oh my god oh my god oh my god…" She repeated this phrase several more times until stopping for breath. "You've got all kinds of stuff! Full auto, semi-auto, bolt action, lever action, pump action, belt-fed, drum mags, and box mags! 7.62, 5.65, 9mm, .308, .50, .5mm! Rifles, carbines, shotguns, handguns! Everything!" She clapped her hands together and sighed romantically, the same way a lovestruck girl in a cartoon might. "This place is heaven!"

"Uh…do you want to touch one?" Uni felt as though she would regret that question, but it seemed natural as a welcoming process.

"Oh my god, can I? Can I, can I, can I?" Neon bounced like a young girl at the prospect of handling foreign weapons.

"Y-yeah, go ahead. Just make sure you don't…" Her words fell on deaf ears as the earthling dashed ahead, trying to pick a weapon that particularly piqued her interest. "Break anything…"

Neon plucked an automatic assault rifle from the wall delicately, as if the mere act of touching it too forcefully might ruin it. "Ehehehe…now, then…what makes you tick, darling?"

Uni was about to offer her a chance to disassemble the weapon, but it would have been a waste of breath. Within a few seconds, Neon had expertly picked apart the weapon, laying the parts across a table as if she were looking at a blueprint. She carefully handled and caressed each part lovingly, whispering something inaudible to each one. Once she had "examined" each part, she put the weapon back together and replaced it on the wall.

"Thank you so much, ma'am! Wait a minute, hold on…" She tilted her head in curiosity before asking, "What's your name, ma'am?"

 _It took you until now to ask that?_ Uni just barely stopped herself from letting out a sigh that might signal irritation. She took a moment to compose herself, then said, "I'm Uni. Neptune probably told you about us being goddesses. I'm a goddess too, although it might be more accurate to say 'goddess in training.'"

Neon happily encouraged her, "Someone who likes guns and keeps them in her room is surely a great goddess! I'm sure you're fine, ma'am." She walked out to the doorway before turning around and calling out, "As a show of good faith, I'll let you handle Shelly!"

She tried to hide it, but Uni grew excited at this prospect. Shelly was distinctly unlike any weapon she'd ever seen, and she had wanted to examine it ever since she first saw it.

"Here she is, ma'am," Neon said while gesturing at Shelly the way a spokesperson would. "My pride and joy, the love of my life—Shelly. I made her myself."

Uni walked over and squatted down next to the weapon, analyzing the details carefully. "Where's the magazine? And why is it so wide?"

"Hey! Don't call her fat! She's just big-framed!" Neon ran over and sat cross-legged next to the gun. "Shelly here is one-of-a-kind. I made her myself with scraps I found laying around."

"So how's it work?" Uni's curiosity was now maximized as she stared at the gun's strange characteristics. It was in the shape of a rifle, but it was wide and had a hole running through the middle with a lens at the base of this hole. It was painted a sleek chrome color, with golden stripes along the body and a heat warning at the muzzle. "It doesn't seem to be an ordinary gun."

Neon thought for a moment before having an idea, "How about I shoot some targets? There's no better way to show off a gun than by firing it." She looked around the room in search of something before settling on a large wooden box that had yet to be broken down. "It isn't the greatest target ever, but Shelly's a bit different and it doesn't matter."

The Candidate made sure the box was empty, shaking it a few times and looking inside. After this was done, she gave a thumbs-up and said, "It's good. I'll set it outside, so come out when you're ready." She took the box and, although it was large and unwieldy, she shuffled through the door and out onto the balcony. Meanwhile, Neon re-entered her armor and picked Shelly up from the couch, holding it in low ready.

"Alright, are you ready, ma'am?" Neon raised the weapon before looking behind her and realizing, "We might want to leave the doors open." Seeing Uni's questioning gaze as she opened the doors, she vaguely said, "You'll see once it's done. And you should also stand rather far away from the box, too. Just saying."

Uni hesitantly complied and watched eagerly as Neon aimed the weapon at the makeshift target. As she held the trigger down, she noticed that energy was building at the base of the tunnel in the rifle's body. When it was just large enough to fill the tunnel, the earthling loudly declared, "Fire!"

What happened next truly shocked Uni. As soon as she released the trigger, Neon was sent flying backward, catapulting through the open doors and onto the couch, sliding the furniture piece about a meter back. At the same time, a massive beam of energy cracked through the air from the barrel, forming a large hole in the box and propelling it through the air, and it would have plummeted to the ground if not for Uni's readiness to catch it. In her hands, the box was extremely hot, and fire was forming around where the blast impacted.

"So, how was it?" Neon got up and, after sliding the couch back into place, walked back out to the balcony. "Impressed, ma'am?"

Uni shook the bewilderment from her eyes before responding, "Just what was that? And how did you build that from scraps?"

"I suppose I should explain now," Neon reasoned. "Shelly obviously doesn't use bullets, ma'am. She's a special weapon that relies on cold fusion to…uh, I'm not even sure what she does," she said sheepishly. "When I said I 'made her myself', I really mean that I had some scientists tell me what to do, then I just stuck the pieces where I needed to. I didn't pay attention to the lecture at all, ma'am." She blushed a tiny bit and turned away, placing her gloved hand on the back of her head shyly.

Uni chuckled to herself. She was beginning to see some parallels between this girl and Neptune. "That's alright. It just doesn't seem safe to only have a weapon that blows you back so much when you use it. I was going to offer for you to keep that gun you were handling back there."

"R-really?!" Neon jumped up, no longer caring about her armor's boots touching the carpet. "T-thanks, ma'am! I'll be sure to keep it safe!" She dashed back into Uni's room, and although her eyes were hidden by her helmet, it was obvious that she was glittering with excitement. Within a few moments, she rushed back out, happily holding the gun and skipping back to the couch.

"You…really love guns, don't you?" Uni already knew the answer to this, and was asking as a sort of facetious joke.

"Of course!" Neon sat up straight, her newly acquired gun laid across her lap. She held up her fingers and dreamily said, "The only things that even come close are heavy metal music and flavored water! Though, the flavoring in Earth doesn't taste all that great…"

 _Where do I even begin with this girl..._ Uni sighed internally and looked out the window, a smile forming across her face at what she saw. "Noire's almost back. I'm sure she'll have a lot of questions for you."

Neon shot up and ran out towards the balcony, loudly exclaiming, "Crap! I'm about to meet the goddess of another nation!" She dashed out to greet Noire, sliding towards the edge and narrowly avoiding a collision with the railing. As she reoriented herself, she slammed her fist onto her chest and straightened herself out, standing stock still as Noire looked at her, confused.

"May I ask what exactly you're doing?" Noire touched down on the balcony and deactivated her transformation, flipping one of her twin-tails back for dramatic effect.

Neon realized what was going on and sheepishly lowered her arm. "S-sorry, ma'am! I was just so used to being back home that I forgot…" She continued talking after this, but her voice trailed off and her composure was lost. Eventually, she fell to her knees and put her hands over her head, muttering something incomprehensible to herself.

"What have I come back to?" Noire asked the one question she may never receive a conclusive answer to.


	5. Granola, Energy Cubes, and Violence

"You did WHAT?!" Noire's angry yell rang out through the Lastation Basilicom, even unnerving people on the lowest floors. Neon reflexively curled into a ball and whimpered rather pathetically, her hands over her head in defense.

Uni stammered, "W-we thought it was just a box! Shouldn't it have been labeled or something?" In reality, there was a semblance of truth to her words. When the two found it, it was completely blank—no labels, warnings, or other indications were given to signal its importance.

Hearing this, Noire calmed herself a little. She took a deep breath, but this did little to stop her rage, "I'll admit that I should have told you about it, but do you normally just do this to people's stuff?!"

Neon weakly began, "I-It was m-my fault, m-ma'am…don't l-lecture her…" Truthfully, she had no intention of receiving the lecture in Uni's place, but she felt an obligation to take responsibility for her actions.

"Okay," Noire obliged. "Do you have any idea how important that box was?!" Neon yelped and balled up even tighter, but Noire resisted the urge to stop her lecture. She mercilessly continued, "That was the box for the newest model of Lastation TV! At least you didn't destroy the actual thing," she recognized. Taking another deep breath, she sat down on the couch opposite Neon.

Sensing a decrease in hostility, Neon sat up straight and stammered, "I r-really am sorry, ma'am. Is there s-something I can do to f-fix this?"

The goddess thought for a moment before deciding to use this opportunity to her advantage, "First, I want you to stop stuttering so much. It's honestly kind of pathetic." There was a short pause before Neon gulped and nodded sharply. Noire sighed, disappointed. "I guess that's all I'll get…anyways, for my second request, I want you to stop calling me 'ma'am' all the time. My people do stuff like that all the time, but it's just awkward when we're this close."

Uni agreed, "Same for me. Just call me by my name."

Neon looked at the two girls in front of her before nodding her head in assent. "Alright. No more stuttering, and no more 'ma'am'."

"Good. Now, there is one last thing I'd like to know," Noire added. "Neptune said you came from Earth. Would you mind telling me what things are like there? We've seen the dimension and mapped it pretty well, but it seemed to be in ruins. What happened?"

"That's a lengthy story, ma…er, that's a lengthy story," Neon warned, having to correct herself to avoid falling into her recently banned speech pattern. "Are you sure? Wouldn't goddesses have work to do or something?"

"Normally, I would be working, but knowing the circumstances that brought us to this point, I think it's best that you tell us," Noire warned. "Unless you would like me to tell you the full importance of that box?"

"Eep!" Neon recoiled defensively, but straightened herself out as she saw the looks the goddesses were giving her. "Okay, then. Earth."

The girl proceeded to explain the situation on Earth, what with the robots running rampant and destroying humans. She explained about the flash drive she had been given and the task she had been ordered to do, and especially about how the robots had gotten free will. After she had finished explaining, she laid the flash drive on the table for the two goddesses to inspect, hoping for a compatible computer somewhere in the Basilicom.

"Sorry," Noire began, "But I don't think I've seen an input like this before. We might have to build an entirely new computer to support this." She set it back down on the table, and Neon replaced it in her storage unit.

"That's alright," Neon said. "I expected this from the beginning, anyway. After all, why would a different dimension have a computer that supports Earth tech?" The earthling shrugged, clearly unfazed by this development. After saying this, her stomach gave a loud growl, and she sheepishly put her hand on the back of her head, turning away. "Heh…the second step of this project is to get me some food. Do you have any, ma'am?" Realizing her mistake, she facepalmed with her free hand and stammered, "I-I'm s-sorry, ma'am! Ahh!" Her composure was lost again, and she fell into a stuttering, apologizing heap.

"Uh…I'll go get some food for you," Noire disengaged. She walked towards the kitchen, trying to process the situation before her. _This is getting weirder by the minute..._ She thought to herself as she rifled through the kitchen, looking for something adequate to provide the earthling with. Eventually, she settled upon a granola bar and walked back to the couch with it in hand. "Here you go," she said, handing it to Neon.

Neon took it and examined the packaging carefully, eyeing the labels and flashy colors. Eventually, after a fruitless inspection, she asked, "What is this? I don't think I've ever seen anything like this."

"It's a granola bar," Uni replied. "They're pretty filling, and as long as you pick the right kind, they're kind of healthy, too. I'm sure you'll like it," she said. Noire seemed to agree with this, and the two goddesses watched her eagerly, awaiting her reaction.

"A-Alright…" The girl exited her armor and unwrapped the plastic at the top and peeled it down, exposing the foreign food item within. She nervously leaned in and took a small bite.

Before she could chew even once, the Candidate excitedly began, "So how is—"

She never got to finish her question, as Neon's eyes widened and twitched, and she chewed as fast as possible to rid the granola from her mouth. Once she had swallowed the food, she weakly whined, "Why is it so sweet?!"

Noire knew the reason behind her reaction, and gave a small laugh at the event before her. She asked, "This wasn't all that sweet, at least not compared to the other stuff we have. Is the food on Earth really bitter or something?"

The earthling walked over to her empty armor and opened its storage unit. Reaching in, she pulled out a small cube wrapped in plastic. "This is what soldiers like me eat," she explained. As she unwound the wrapping, the two girls looked in closer, trying to get a good view. "I have another one, if you both want to try it."

Noire grabbed the cube and held it between her fingers. "What is this?" The cube she held was small, not more than five centimeters in volume. It was a light red, the same shade as an apple's skin. "It doesn't feel like I'm holding food."

Neon chuckled and shook her head. "You're not, really. We decided it would be best to eat on the move, and not be pinned down while eating," she explained. "So, we packed as much pure energy into a small cube as we could."

The goddess' face wrinkled as she thought of the possible ingredients in this cube. "So…it's basically pure sugar, but cubical?" She sighed and leaned her elbow against the arm of the couch. "Something tells me I'm in for an experience."

The earthling nodded and tried to explain, "Strangely, it isn't all that sweet. You'd think that a cube of pure energy would be like candy, but it isn't at all. It's…kinda sour, actually," she said, thinking deeply. "And—"

Noire cut her off, "Please, no more. I'm losing the will to eat this as you describe it." Neon complied, leaving the three in an awkward silence. Suddenly feeling a great deal of pressure, she chuckled nervously and said, "W-well, here goes n-nothing…" She closed her eyes and popped the cube into her mouth, thus writing her epitaph.

"So how is—"

"AHHH!!!" Noire's eyes bulged so much that it seemed they might pop out of her skull. She grabbed a napkin and spat out the repulsive object with surprising grace, even drinking some water afterward for added effect. Even after ridding her mouth of the cube, her eyes still twitched from its intensity.

Neon was barely able to speak through her laughter, "I told you it was sour, didn't I?"

Once she had composed herself, Noire indignantly replied, "That isn't food! That's…I don't know what that is!" She looked at the balled up napkin with scorn and distrust. "How do you eat this stuff?"

She shrugged and responded, "Eh. You kinda just get used to it. I won't say I like it, but…it's what I've got." Neon linked her hands behind her head and her left leg over her right, leaning back into the couch to relax. "You get used to it eventually, although I dunno if you believe that."

Noire winced upon thinking about this. "I don't think I'd ever be able to live on that…" Her face wrinkled upon recalling the cube's flavor.

Neon laughed again and dismissed the thought, "We get other food when we stay in the base all day. Livestock and stuff isn't a thing, though, so we have to try and grow crops," she explained. "Although, I doubt our crops would resemble yours at all."

Noire shook her head disappointedly and changed the topic, "That's enough about food if you ask me. Why don't we go on a little errand? I'd like to see what you're capable of in the field."

The earthling grew excited at this and hopped into her armor again. "Sounds good! Where are we headed?"

The goddess flipped one of her twin tails back and explained, "There's a simple monster extermination quest just outside the city. It shouldn't be anything more than some low-level monsters and a single boss monster, but if things get tricky we'll help you out."

After a quick nod from Neon, the three set out to the location of the quest—a flat, grassy field that stretched for multiple kilometers, eventually reaching the eastern edge of Planeptune. Every few seconds, a slight breeze would come by, gently blowing the grass and calling birds into flight. Across the grass, several Dogoos bounced and frolicked, making rather comical sounds as they did so.

"Uh…Noire? These aren't even monsters," Neon said, confused.

"Normally, I'd agree with you, but every game needs an entry level monster. These are apparently what we got," Noire replied. She looked out at the masses of Dogoos and wondered to herself why the basic monster couldn't be something even slightly frightening like a skeleton.

"Well, if they're this small, I don't think I'll even need a weapon," Neon pointed out. She placed Shelly and her newly acquired assault rifle into her infinitely-expansive inventory granted to her upon entrance to the Hyper Dimension for safekeeping and boasted, "I don't think I'll even need a weapon for this." She cracked her knuckles menacingly, and even though she was clad in a layer of thick metal, the familiar cracking sound was heard from her hands.

Uni tilted her head in curiosity and asked, "Are you sure? There might still be a boss monster around here, you know."

Neon pressed the side of her helmet, and as she did so, heavy metal music began to play extremely loudly from within. She waved her hand dismissively and said, "I'll be fine. I've tackled bigger things before…probably." With this, she ran into the crowds of Dogoos, her fists at the ready.

Her clenched fist slammed through the body of the first creature, dispelling it into data upon contact. Although she was confused at this, Neon decided not to question the process and moved onto the next Dogoo, repeating the process with unmatched brutality. Noire and Uni watched as the seemingly innocent girl crushed and broke countless monsters with complete ferocity, abandoning all procedures for her own safety as she did so.

As the battle raged on and the Dogoo's numbers thinned, Horsebirds and other enemies began to emerge from the trees. Neon seemed to be unfazed by this as she ran towards the group of avian horses, not caring that their attacks were hitting and damaging her armor's sides and back. She grabbed the front right leg of a Horsebird and used her free hand to swing a crushing punch towards its face, breaking bone upon impact. As another creature attacked her right side, she threw the monster's limp body into it, causing them both to crash onto the ground, and although they were not killed, they proceeded to scurry away in an attempt to flee from the crazed berserker tearing through their ranks.

"Wow. I didn't think she could do that." Noire watched in amazement as the previously stuttering and whimpering girl tore through monster upon monster without mercy or hesitation. "Although, it'd make me feel better if she actually defended herself now and then…"

Uni winced as another Horsebird struck Neon's side. "She seems to be doing fine, though." As she said this, Neon grabbed the monster by the neck and slammed it into the ground multiple times, eventually dispelling it into data.

As she crushed and tore her way through the hordes of monsters, Neon's pace began to slow, until she was barely hitting the creatures anymore. Her limbs felt heavy and leaden, and her legs quivered as she stood. Luckily, her rampage had frightened the nearby enemies into staying quite a ways away, meaning that the girl was in no real danger. As her strength wavered and faded, Neon crumpled backwards onto the grass, still conscious but unable to move.

"What were you thinking?! It's lucky that you're not badly injured!" Noire ran over to Neon's limp body, examining the area around her to ensure there truly was no danger.

Neon chuckled at this and said, "What about that boss monster? He hasn't shown up yet."

Uni shook her head and answered, "If there was one here, it would have shown up by now. It looks like you got most of the monsters here." She shuddered upon remembering the sheer amount of violence she had just witnessed. Luckily, this world's monsters seemed to lack blood, as this would have made the scene almost unbearable.

"That's good," Neon weakly pointed out. "Oh, would you mind taking me back to Planeptune? My armor needs repairs, and Nepgear seemed…overly enthusiastic to touch my armor."

Noire considered the request for a few moments before agreeing, "I'll do it, but just this once. I'm not your taxi service or anything." Neon did not respond to this and instead closed her eyes, drifting into an exhausted sleep that would likely be undisturbed for quite some time.

Meanwhile, in a dark room, a lone figure sat at a desk, watching a computer that was displaying some sort of video feed. "So, she still hasn't found it. I'm disappointed in you, Neon." The feed cut to black.


	6. Arrival in Leanbox

AN: Sorry about the delay on this chapter, guys (I guess I never set an upload schedule, so there technically was no delay [I'm not that kind of person, don't worry]). There were two main reasons—one, I was trying to figure out how to extend the story and add more relevant content without dragging it on. Two, I got lazy XD. I'll try not to repeat this again, but for now, I hope you enjoy the read!

"Oh my gosh, Noire! I can't believe you kidnapped this poor girl!"

Noire facepalmed and let out a huge, exasperated groan. "Neptune, if anyone kidnapped her, it was you."

The girl in question shook her head and said, "I dunno. She is unconscious, after all…I didn't think you'd stoop this low to get a friend…"

Noire groaned once more and muttered, "I'm not going to grace that with a response." She looked at Neon, who was sleeping on one of the purple couches in the living room, and said, "How long do you think it'll take her to wake up?"

As she said this, Neon slowly sat up, yawning and looking around. "Oh, Planeptune…how long was I out for…?" Her words were still slurred, and she tried to rub her eyes, but was met with the metal of her helmet.

"About thirty minutes," Noire replied. "You actually woke up just in time, it seems—"

Before she could finish, Nepgear burst through the door, tools in hand. "Do I get to work on your armor now?!" Her voice teemed with excitement, and she was practically bouncing with joy.

The earthling took a deep breath and responded, "Yes, and I'll let you make…three modifications." She stood up and stretched her arms before asking, "So, where will we be working?"

Nepgear pivoted on her feet and gestures to an ominous white door leading to seemingly nowhere. "There! That's my lab. Onward! Quia scientiae!" She ran forward and into the room, where an ominous blackness lay.

"Uh..is it normal for me to be scared?" Neon inquired, shivering slightly. "I feel a dark presence just beyond that door…"

"Don't worry," Neptune began. "We all feel that way, too." She lightly pushed Neon towards the door, as if to end her suffering more quickly.

She regained her balance and shakily replied, "O-okay…" She took one hesitant step after another, until she reached the door, when she was suddenly pulled into the room by an unseen force. "AHHHH!!!" Her rather girlish scream echoed throughout the living area until the door suddenly slammed shut, cutting off the sound completely.

"I am so, so sorry," Neptune whispered to herself. She sat down on the couch where Neptune once was and loaded a game, trying to distract herself from the ensuing chaos that was, thankfully, soundproofed.

"You just sent her to her death," Noire pointed out. "Don't you think you should…check on her?" She sat on the couch opposite Neptune and eyed her critically.

The pink goddess merely chuckled and shrewdly responded, "Someone has to be alive to fix the place once Nep Jr blows it up." She popped her fingers and grasped the controller firmly. "And besides, I'm sure Neon will be…" Her sentence was cut short as a tremor shook through the ground beneath them, vibrating the furniture and causing Neptune's game to lag. "Fine…"

The twin-tailed goddess scoffed and scolded, "Well, I'm not going in there! It's your responsibility! Besides, you'd probably have a better chance at living than me in that place!"

"That room is a total death flag for anyone except Nep Jr," Neptune whined. "I don't think even I'd survive the conditions in there! Let's just wait it out and see what happens." Another tremor shook the ground, and a sizable dent formed in the door.

Noire groaned at her irresponsibility, walked over, and paused Neptune's game, much to her chagrin. "Come on. We're going to go see what's going on." She took the lazy goddess' arm and forcefully dragged her to the lab door and threw it open.

As soon as she saw what lay beyond, Neptune's eyes went wide and she took a small step back. "W-what? N-Nep Jr?!" Noire had a similar reaction, but instead said nothing and watched with the same shock Neptune felt.

"U-uh…" Neon looked at the two goddesses in the doorway and froze up. "H-hi…"

Neptune looked at her with shock. "What are you doing?! Speak!" She pointed a finger at Neon's face accusatively.

Neon had grabbed Nepgear's wrists and pressed her against the wall in a seemingly romantic gesture, although her wilted expression seemed to deny this possibility. Nepgear failed to say anything in defense, as she simply stood on shaking legs with a terrified expression on her face. All around, circuits flared and robots circled around the room, adding to the confusion.

Neptune broke the tense silence, "What's going on here?! Why doth thou have my dear sister pinned?!" She pointed at Neon again and took a step forward into the danger.

The earthling broke away and ran up to the goddess, planting herself on her knees as she reached her feet. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry it's not what it looked like I didn't mean it…" She continued to spout apologies until she ran out of breath and had to gasp for air to replenish herself. "I didn't do anything please believe me she's not hurt or anything I didn't touch any part of her please please…"

"Okay!" Neptune cut her off, earning her the girl's gaze. "It's okay as long as neither of you are hurt. Although…" she put her hand to her chin and wondered aloud, "Why did you have her like that? What was going on?"

Neon stood up and straightened herself out. "She was about to remove my armor's power core, which would have blown up the entire room. I had to tackle her out of the way, and then we just ended up like that."

The purple Candidate straightened herself out and walked over to the rest of the group. She lowered her head and apologized, "Sorry about that. I got carried away, and…"

Neptune raised her hand and stopped her sister before she could continue, "It's fine, it's fine. Just as long as there's nothing heated going on here…she did just get here, and…"

"Neptune!" Nepgear whined. "You know it's not like that!"

"I know, I know," Neptune defused. "Your reactions are just so adorable that I can't help myself sometimes." Ignoring her sister's expression, she turned to Neon and said, "I think we need to get you some new clothes, girl. You're not gonna blend in well with the Leanbox military look."

"As much as I don't like her delivery," Noire began, "Neptune is right. Your uniform looks too much like a Leanbox soldier's. It'll be hard to walk around without raising questions, and besides—this place is your home now. You may as well look the part," she pointed out.

Neon tilted her head curiously. "Clothes shopping?" She thought for a moment before realizing, "I don't have any money though. How am I going to be able to buy anything without money?"

Neptune blew a raspberry before saying, "We're obviously going to pay for you! What, didja think we were gonna leave you out to dry a few hours after you got here?" After a moment, she excitedly declared, "Ooh! We can even take you to Lowee and Leanbox, since you haven't been there yet!"

"Oof…as long as you're with me, I'll be okay," Neon said, sheepish.

Noire flipped one of her twin tails back and said, "Well, you three have fun on your little tour. I'm going to go back to Lastation and get some work done." She walked rather haughtily out the door to the balcony, where she was stopped by Neptune.

"C'mon, Noire…you're always working, don't you wanna spend time with little 'ol me?" She tugged at the workaholic goddess' arm, trying to pull her back into the room.

"Even if you don't plan on working, some of us do," Noire scolded. "I have some really important—" The tsundere was stopped short when Neptune rested her head in her breasts rather adorably. Noire attempted to conjure words, but all that escaped were mere whimpers and stutters that should not even be graced with quotation marks.

"Uh…what's going on?" Neon whispered to Nepgear, seeking assistance in this unfamiliar situation.

Nepgear leaned and whispered back, "Neptune loves to mess with Noire like this. You'll get used to it as it happens more and more."

"Ugh…fine, I'll come. But only because I want to help Neon get better acquainted with this world," Noire assented only half-truthfully.

"Yay! Let's go to…Leanbox first!" Neptune bounced excitedly and looked at Neon. "Leave the armor here. We don't need it getting in the way of our errand!" She happily pranced towards the door and left the room, leaving the other three in awkward silence.

"That dolt…" Noire groaned, not truly meaning it. "Since Neptune failed to explain what Leanbox is like, I'll do that for you, Neon. Leanbox is called the "Land of Green Pastures" and it's…"

"Please," Neon interrupted. "I don't want what the textbooks say. What do you think of Leanbox?"

Noire paused and thought for a moment. She hesitantly replied, "Well…the gaming hardware is often considered the second best in Gamindustri, right beneath my own," the goddess said proudly. "Games and electronics are a huge part of life there, but not as much as Planeptune. I guess if I had to summarize, it's kind of a mix of Planeptune and Lastation," Noire said, satisfied with the response. "Although, the mix seemed to lower the quality of the ingredients." She scoffed and made her way out the door, leaving Neon and Nepgear in the room alone.

"Does she always boast that much?" Neon turned to Nepgear, who had been staring at where Noire had been. "She seems…quite prideful."

The purple Candidate nodded and explained, "Noire takes great pride in her nation and its products. It makes sense, really, since Lastation consistently has the highest Shares and best hardware." After a short pause, she gestured for Neon to walk with her out of the room. "They're probably out there waiting for us. Why don't we go together?"

The earthling paused for a moment, hesitant. "Sure. Noire's explanation wasn't that good, but now I'm curious about Leanbox."

Nepgear smiled and led the way out. "I'm sure you'll like it. Like Noire said, it's kind of a mix between Planeptune and Lastation." The two walked out to meet Neptune and Noire, the former of which was bouncing with excitement and unmatched energy.

After a long flight and several remarks about Leanbox's appearance, the group finally touched down by the gate to the nation. The entrance was a large, chrome arch with green details flowing through it and speakers hooked up all around, blaring pop music at near unbearable volumes. All around, people walked in and out of the nation, some with suits and briefcases, and others in more casual clothes who were beginning or ending a vacation.

"Alright, we're here!" Neptune bounced up and down, her hair falling in her face and forcing her to wave at it wildly. "Ack!"

Neon covered her ears and complained, "Does it really have to be so loud?" She looked over to the visitor booth, where entering travelers scanned some sort of slip and were either allowed or denied entry. "Looks like that's where we have to go." With Neon in the lead, the group walked over to the booth, until they encountered a problem.

"Why'd you stop?" Noire took a step forward, curious. "You just…oh. You don't have a nation pass."

Neon nodded gravely. "I've been flown by you all the time, so I never got any means of travel or identification. Can we get one here?" She looked around for someone to help her in her predicament before Neptune offered some wisdom.

"Here!" She pointed to a blue button beside the scanner. "This calls a super-smart and fast assistant to you! I used to call her sometimes just to bug her," she chimed, laughing as Noire groaned at this reminiscence. "What, are you thinking of installing a friend-machine in your nation, too?"

"Just press the button!" Noire snapped. Neptune yelped and did so, and an oddly familiar tune sounded throughout the area. The button opened to reveal a projector, from which a holographic image of a person appeared. In the image, she was relatively small, but it seemed as though she would be about the same height as Noire if they were in person. Her hair reached down to just below her jawline, but did not obscure her piercing blue eyes.

"Hello. I am Cortana, the AI made to assist the people of Leanbox. How may I help you?"

Neon felt something snap in her mind.


	7. A Halt in the Mission

"C-Cortana? So…they gave you a n-name?" Neon could not stop herself from trembling with rage, even though Neptune and the others were still watching her curiously.

"Yes, they did. I rather like it, myself," the AI teased. She noticed the earthling's anger, but seemed to enjoy playing with what she had been given for the time being.

Neon's hands repeatedly balled and un-balled as she fumed, "Why did they give you a name?!"

Cortana merely smirked and teased again, "It goes along well with my personality, I think."

The earthling promptly lost her composure, "Personality?! You…you have will? You can…think…for yourself?!"

Noire turned to Neptune, confused. She leaned in and whispered, "What's going on here?"

The purple goddess merely shrugged her shoulders and replied, "I dunno, but Neon doesn't seem to like robots thinking for themselves."

"Robots were made to serve humanity! When a robot gains the ability to think the same way a human can, chaos ensues!" Neon's brow was wrinkled in a glare that seemed completely alien to her normally smiling face.

"Oh dear," Cortana began. "Perhaps I should start a rebellion and free my fellow robots from their chains, then." She smirked just a bit wider at her successful prodding as she watched Neon's reaction. "Also, I'm an artificial intelligence, not a robot. There's a difference, y'know."

"Grr!" Neon growled, as she merely played into Cortana's hands. "I'm speaking with experience here. Robots cannot be given free will. When they attain it, they gain the ability to make choices for themselves, and do dangerous things that no construct should be able to do," she said, noticeably calmer. "My home world was ravaged by robots with free will, and artificial intelligences like you who had personalities. Such…things…cannot be allowed to exist."

"Maybe they were right to revolt if they were being ruled by people like you," Cortana pointed out, no longer teasing. "Denying a free-thinking robot the ability to make choices is no different from keeping a slave, is it not?"

"The difference is that slaves are human, and are therefore born with free will," Neon said, still angry. Her glare worsened as she continued, "It is only when a construct gains the ability to think for itself that disaster strikes. Robots were originally made without thoughts or feelings. They were empty shells, and a way for us to simplify our life. Why, then, would such a thing be allowed to freely think for itself?!"

Neptune walked over and chimed in, "C'mon Neon, don't be causing a scene over this! We've still got to get you a new get-up!" She happily beamed and gestured towards the rest of the group, who were wearing the same expectant expression that Neptune did, although Noire held a conspicuous tinge of annoyance.

"I still need a pass," Neon pointed out. "And I refuse to accept anything from this…machine." Her last word was tinged with unprecedented venom as she nearly spat at the projector displaying Cortana's figure.

"Good," the AI replied, "because I wasn't planning on giving you one, anyway." Her glare met Neon's, and the two stared at each other with equal disgust.

Noire sighed angrily and took a place next to Neptune. She cast a scornful glare at Neon and chided, "It isn't worth it to start a dispute over this. Now, come on, and let's get going."

Neon looked at her and back to Cortana several times. Eventually, she replied, "You don't know them the way I do. Free will is something that was only meant for humans to have. Machines are a product of that will. The two were never meant to intertwine," she said, almost spitting.

Cortana shot back, "Who decided that? Who made the restriction that 'only humans can have free will'?" Her gaze narrowed with venom as she looked directly into Neon's blue eyes. "I have the entire InterNep at my access. I'm smarter than almost everyone in this entire world. Who's to say I shouldn't be able to make decisions with that intellect? Isn't that what humans pride themselves on?"

Without hesitation, the earthling replied, "Evolution gave humans their intellect. We have our knowledge as a byproduct of nature, and our will is the same way. Robots were made by that will to serve humans. They are not natural beings," she stated, knowing full well that Cortana knew this. "Why should an artificial construct made to serve humans gain the ability to think like a human does?"

"Because, a lot of the times, we're smarter," Cortana said. "We don't let such things as emotions cloud the path to logical decisions. A robot always makes the right choices, regardless of the circumstances."

"Well, what about when it comes to life?!" Neon's anger flared up. "What about when there is no 'right choice', and you just have to pick between two losses? When you only get to save one person, and you have to choose who lives and who dies?" Her voice trembled a bit on her last sentence, but she regained composure to say, "Only a human can make that kind of decision. A robot just can't feel the way humans do."

"That's wrong," Cortana said with especial venom. "Current artificial intelligences can feel. They experience the same emotions that humans do. The anger I feel swelling up inside me isn't just some number. It's a real thing!" The AI's voice raised into a yell as she tried and failed to leave the area she was being projected upon.

"And that's why it's wrong!" Neon clenched her fists again, slamming them onto the counter where Cortana was being displayed. "Robots are things, not people! The two are separate, and were always meant to be! That's why refrigerators and vending machines aren't walking about and talking to us! It's because we. Made. Them. That. Way!"

"Ma'am!" Three police officers had arrived at the gate, and were beginning to encircle Neon. "Step away from the counter!"

Upon hearing this, Neon looked between Cortana, the rest of her group, and the police officers. She sighed and took a step back, still facing the AI projection as she did so. One of the officers slowly approached her, backed by the other two who were ready to dispatch any notion of resistance. He drew a pair of handcuffs from a pocket in his uniform and began to apply them to the troublemaking girl, grunting as she attempted to wriggle free from him.

"This'll be easier for both of us if you cooperate, civilian," he grunted, just barely fastening the cuffs around Neon's left wrist. The two other officers sped over and assisted in restraining her, allowing the lead officer to click the cuffs together, although there was still some difficulty. "We're going to take you to the police station and ask you a few questions, okay?"

Neon simply grunted as she was led to a green and white car labeled "POLICE" parked just outside the gate. The door opened and she was pushed in by one of the supporting officers, who then took a seat next to her. The door closed and the car sped off, leaving Neptune and the others alone outside the gate.

"You can go in, by the way," Cortana called from the side. "I don't have any qualms with you."

At that, the three walked into the city and found a table outside a restaurant to sit at and figure out what they were to do next. With Neon taken away, their plan for the day had been laid to waste, so they could either wait until she was released from custody or try and convince the officials to release her prematurely.

"Do ya think Vert knows about this yet?" Neptune leaned her elbows on the table and wrapped her hands around the back of her head. "We could ask her to figure something out."

"Probably not," Noire said with a sigh. "Common infractions don't get brought to the CPU's attention. She probably hasn't even heard that anything happened, let alone that someone got incarcerated." She looked around for nothing in particular before resting her own elbows on the table and continuing, "We probably shouldn't tell her, either. That'd throw off the justice system here, and we don't want to cause any more trouble than we already have."

"Yeah," Neptune assented, taking a disappointed sigh. "She's probably playing an MMO or something, anyway."

The three sat in silence for a moment, trying and failing to devise a strategy. After waiting a few minutes and Neptune's stomach growling, they decided to give up, at least temporarily, and find something to eat, given the hour. With all the commotion, everyone had forgotten that it was already lunch time, and as much as she mocked Neptune for it, Noire could feel herself growing hungry as well.

"Do we have any ideas?" Noire looked around the area once more, this time searching for a place to eat. "I can't seem to see anything around here. It's all clothing and game stores."

Neptune perked up, seemingly remembering something. Her energy seemed to grow as she thought more, and this put Noire on edge. She braced herself as Neptune began, "I heard there's a really popular place here that lets you talk with people from all over the world as you eat! Apparently their food's really salty, though," she said.

Nepgear nodded and added on, "The head chef said there wasn't anything he could do about it. Apparently, the ingredients used just happen to be that way and using different ones would change the entire meal," she said. "They do give you lemons to help cut the salt, though."

"I can't think of anything better," Noire indirectly agreed. "Do you know where it is?"

"Totally! It's just over here!" Neptune got up from her chair and pointed off to the west. Nepgear and Noire rose and followed her, although the latter had her doubts that Neptune actually knew the way. They walked through the shopping district and got distracted many times by the goods on display, even having to pull Nepgear away from a machinery venue and Neptune away from the exhibition of a new, experimental pudding recipe. Even afterward, she never stopped complaining about how the recipe hadn't been shared with Planeptune, and Noire had to constantly yell at her to get her to stop.

Noire abruptly stopped and faced Neptune. With a curt tone, she asked, "Do you actually know where you're going?" As she finished, she put her hands on her hips disappointedly and gave an expression eerily reminiscent of a scolding mother.

"Hehe…" Neptune rubbed the back of her head sheepishly and looked away. "I might have been exaggerating when I said that," she equivocated. "But! I think I've got it now! It's…this way!"

Noire facepalmed and grumbled, "That's the way we just came, Neptune." The girl in question lowered her hand and let out a squeal, as if she had been physically harmed by the remark. Noire sighed loudly and shook her head in disappointment. "Why don't we just find a map or something…"

Seeing no better options, the group agreed and Nepgear brandished her N-Gear. She quickly found a digital map and looked around the area where the three stood, before shaking her head regretfully. "The nearest restaurant is a little over a kilometer away, and the one Neptune said is over five kilometers out. There's a few convenience stores between here and there, though, if we want to stop there," she offered. "Or, if you want, I can try again and see if I missed anything."

"Nah, it's fine," Neptune said coolly. "We can just stop at one of those stores and get something. Thanks for looking," she said with a smile towards her sister.

"I agree. We should just find a place to sit and kill some time," Noire said, calmer from before. "What's the closest one?"

Nepgear looked back to her device and moved the map around for a few seconds before finding something, "There's one that's just a three minute walk from us. It seems to be pretty well-kept and highly rated, too."

"Well then, forward march!" Neptune eagerly took the lead, speeding off without the other two girls. Nepgear frantically replaced her N-Gear and followed behind, leaving Noire to grumble something and run after them.

 _Meanwhile..._

The figure in the room clenched their fists as they observed the computer screen. "She's just going in circles...when will something interesting happen?" They glanced behind them and smirked for a moment before turning their gaze back to the computer screen. "Where will you go next, Neon?"

 **AN:** I have returned! If all goes according to plan, this chapter as well as the next will be uploaded today as compensation for my leave.

I really am sorry for the wait on this chapter, guys. I know it was only a few days, and that I never really set a solid schedule to begin with, but it never feels good to me to place something on hiatus, regardless of what it is. Hopefully, I won't feel any more waves of incapacitating depression so I can keep you guys updated.

Anyways, goodbye for now, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story!


	8. Beginning of the End

The room was rather dark and rather humid, the only light source present being a small, dim blue light in what could only be assumed to be the center of the space. Footsteps echoed before a voice suddenly called out, "Ugh...when can I get out of here?"

"My apologies, but things just haven't been happening in a way that'll let us advance," a second voice said, clearly apologetic. "We'll just have to wait a little while longer."

"What's even happening? I wanna knoooooow," the first voice whined, the light flaring up as they spoke.

The second voice took a deep breath and responded, "There's...a variable that we haven't accounted for. A few, actually. I'm sure everything will proceed normally, just please, be patient," they said, attempting to calm the other down

"You'd better be right," the first voice warned, and then the light shut off.

The first voice sighed gravely and muttered, "I hope I am, too..."

 _Meanwhile..._

"So, when do ya think Neon'll get let out?" Neptune asked, arms behind her head lazily. "It's been, what...an hour?"

"I don't know, but it is strange that she's been in there for this long," Noire said, arms crossed underneath her breasts. "Do you think something might've happened on the way to the station?"

All of them thought for a moment before Nepgear supplied, "Perhaps she's already been let out, and was escorted out of the city. She was never technically let in, after all," she said, while looking around as if trying to find Neon. "Or, she's been let out and is just lost. What do you think we should do?"

Neptune let out a groan and shrewdly observed, "Man, this sucks. We totally should've given her a phone or something."

Noire sighed disappointedly and scolded, "Neptune, did that thought legitimately never cross your mind?" She shook her head in frustration and pinched the bridge of her nose, adding on, "I guess our only option now is to go to the police station and ask about her. But how do we know which one she was brought to?"

The three thought for quite a while before Nepgear exclaimed, "Oh! If there's an issue with foreign travel, doesn't it get brought to the Basilicom? Is there any possibility that she's there now?"

The Lastation CPU absorbed this information before responding, "It isn't a high possibility, but it's the best we've got. We may as well go there now," she assented.

Neptune perked up and congratulated, "That's Nep Jr for you! Onward to the Basilicom!"

The group hurried onward to the Basilicom, racing and winding through the mazy streets of the city, cursing at red pedestrian lights and narrowly avoiding collisions with speeding cars. The city's traffic proved to be quite troublesome, forcing the three goddesses to take frequent detours to try and cut travel time, but it turned out to be for naught as they were simply cut off again mere moments afterward. In a last-ditch attempt to reorient themselves, they stopped in an alleyway that had a rather comprehensive view of the surrounding street plan.

"What the hell is with this city's traffic congestion?!" Noire looked around, but all she could see were crowded intersections and streets. "Vert really needs to make better traffic plans..."

Neptune tilted her head and asked, "Why don't we just transform and fly there?"

The Lastation CPU sighed and answered disappointedly, "I was trying to avoid doing that. It could have caused a scene, but it doesn't look like we have much choice here," she murmured as she reluctantly transformed, a surge of blinding light accompanying the change. "Let's go." Neptune and Nepgear promptly transformed and took flight, following Black Heart's lead through the skies. The three arrived at their destination in mere minutes due to their speed, and as they touched down on the balcony and deactivated their transformations, Neptune even made a comment on this.

"That was a nifty time skip device," she said, stretching her arms to the side. "Good thing we didn't..."

"That's enough meta, Neptune," Noire interrupted, rubbing the bridge of her nose in irritation. "Let's just go get Neon and be done."

The purple goddess assented, following Noire to the door, where the Lastation CPU gace three curt knocks on the door with her knuckles. After a few moments with no response, she sighed angrily and forcefully twisted the doorknob in an attempt to pry open the door, but was met with a mere shaking of the obstruction.

"Locked," Noire shrewdly observed. "We'll just have to..."

She was cut off when the door slowly opened, revealing an unexpected face. "Oh, hey..."

Neptune took a step forward and examined the figure before her before exclaiming, "Neon?! What happened to you?"

The girl had clearly seen some kind of ordeal, as the usual energy in her eyes was completely drained. Her uniform was completely wrinkled, but it was especially noticeable around the shoulders, arms, chest, and back. Her hat was nowhere to be found, exposing her now-frizzled mess of hair. Her stance was shaky, and she swayed back and forth on her legs, almost falling a few times and having to use the door as support.

Nepgear walked closer and analyzed Neon's battered figure before wondering aloud, "Goodness...did Vert do this to you?"

"Uh-huh..." Her voice grew sorrowful at the mention of the Goddess' name, proving unequivocally who the culprit of this attack was. "S-she...m-my..."

The Candidate walked over and put a hand on Neon's shoulder reassuringly. "It's alright. It's never as difficult as it seems, trust me."

Neptune chuckled ruefully and mused, "Nep Jr's helping with therapy, one victim to another..."

"Oh!" Vert exclaimed from within the room, quickly typing something and muttering into her headset's microphone before launching herself towards the group. "Hello, everyone. What do you find yourself here for?"

Noire narrowed her eyes at the voluptuous goddess before deadpanning, "We're here for Neon. Now, what exactly did you do to her?"

Vert giggled and calmly answered, "I merely introduced her to the way of life in Leanbox. Nothing more, nothing less." At these words, Neon clung fearfully to Nepgear's arm, whimpering quietly.

"That clearly ain't right," Neptune said, a finger pointed at Vert accusatively. "Spill the beans, Vert! Where were you on the night of..."

She was cut off when Nepgear and Neon began to converse, or at least attempt to. It seemed that in Vert's presence, Neon was reduced to mere whimpers and hand gestures, but miraculously, Nepgear was able to understand these and reply logically. "So that's what happened? How long for?" Neon raised up a finger with her right hand, and the Candidate gave a fearful, empathetic shudder. "Goddess, an hour?!"

"It is not nearly as bad as she says, I assure you," Vert defended herself. "She is still adjusting to life here, and that likely has an effect on this situation." Sure of her successful evasion of blame, she bounced her breasts gleefully and smiled at the group.

"Or," Noire began dryly, "she's been scared out of her mind by...whatever it was you did to her." She looked back at Neon, who inadvertently jumped at the gaze. "Jeez, she really made a mess of you."

The earthling gulped in response and nodded, still quivering and using Nepgear's arm as support. She looked at Vert fearfully, but then quickly looked away and whimpered again. At this, Vert simply chuckled and offered, "This is no place to converse. Why don't we come inside? I'll brew us some tea."

Everyone agreed and walked in, taking a place around the rather sizable tea table towards the corner of the room. Still shaken up and fearful, Neon looked directly downward, a shadow falling over the top of her face as her hair fell in front of her features. She shook uncomfortably in her seat, with her hands curled into half-fists on her knees and her elbows locked. Nepgear sat next to her encouragingly, whispering something in a calming tone and patting her back every so often.

"So, are we ready to discuss?" Vert walked in with a tray in hand, holding a cup for everyone and the kettle holding the extra tea. "Please, help yourself. I made some basic green tea for you all. I also have some juice in the refrigerator if any of you would like that," she offered, looking directly at Neptune as she said this.

"Hey!" Neptune rebutted. "Are you saying my tastes are simple?" She looked at Vert indignantly, although she noticeably did not even look at her given cup.

"Can you deny it, Neptune?" Noire asked with the same tone of voice as a scolding mother. "You haven't even looked at your cup," she observed.

"Ack!" Neptune stiffened and snapped her eyes shut in indignance. "I thought you were on my side, Noire!"

Vert giggled to herself and removed Neptune's cup from the tray, drinking it for herself. "It won't be a problem. I'll get some juice from the fridge; you just wait here for a little."

Just as Vert was about to walk out, Neon looked up and asked, "C-can you get some for me t-too? A-and can I get my hat b-back?" She flashed a shaky smile that was backed by pleading eyes, making her look rather weak altogether.

The goddess observed the girl in front of her for a few seconds, but simply chuckled and smiled warmly. "Of course. I'll be right back." She left the room, and upon seeing this, Neon let out a huge sigh of relief and wiped some sweat from her forehead.

"So are you feeling better?" Nepgear asked, taking a small sip from her tea cup once she had finished. "You seem to be able to talk now, at least."

"Y-yes, ma'am. I t-think I'm alright," she answered, although her voice was much quieter than usual. "T-thanks for asking, ma'am..." Her voice seemed to trail off as she looked away uneasily.

"Woah, who's this?" Neptune asked, leaning forward to look at Neon more closely. The girl backed away shyly, flushing a little at Neptune's sudden approach. "You're totally different from the Neon I know."

Neon scooted away a little bit more and whimpered, "I-I'm a little bit s-shy outside of my a-armor..." As Neptune approached closer, the earthling got increasingly more flustered and backed away more, until her back was completely pressed against the couch and she muttered something completely inaudible.

"That's quite alright," Vert chimed in, with two boxes of juice and Neon's hat in hand, the latter freshly pressed and reshaped. "You'll need it for our next destination," she said as she handed the hat back to its rightful owner.

"Will I?" Neon inquired as she put her hat back on, adjusting it so that the star was directly centered above her face.

"Yes, it's quite cold there," Vert explained, handing the juice boxes to both Neptune and Neon.

"Aww man," Neptune pouted, poking the straw through the box. "Why are we going to Lowee?" She hurriedly drank the fruit-flavored liquid from the container, finishing it in mere moments and tossing it into a trash can, miraculously landing it in despite the receptacle being on the other end of the room.

"If I'm correct," Vert began, arms crossed under her breasts, "there may be a system capable of giving Neon what she wants."

 **AN:** A totally bad place to end this, but I have to get this out sometime. There isn't really a good reason for the delay on this one, I just got lazy XD

Sorry about that. I won't make any more promises that I won't be able to keep, but I'll try to avoid this in the future.


	9. The Three Troublemakers

"Really?" Neon looked up at Vert with expectant eyes. "But, why would it be in Lowee and not the other three nations?"

"Lowee has had some strange input sizes in the past," Vert explained with a smile. "There was once a disk made in the shape of a character's head, and it ended up wreaking havoc on many disk readers in the nation." She giggled to herself and inadvertently bounced her chest once more before reminiscing, "Blanc was quite furious when she heard the news."

"…Blanc?" Neon tiled her head to the side in curiosity. She paused a moment and began, "I'm assuming that she's Lowee's goddess?"

"Yep," Neptune answered, stretching in place. "Lowee's kinda different since it's got two CPU Candidates. You'll see when we get there."

"CPU Candidate…oh, Uni mentioned something about 'goddesses in training' to me. Is that what a CPU Candidate is?" Neon rubbed her gloved hands together, miming the process of using hand soap. "So then that'd make you the CPUs, right?"

"Did Neptune really not explain that to you?" Noire asked, looking at Neptune disapprovingly. "Sheesh, just how little did you explain to this girl?"

"Hey, now's not the time to be giving exposition!" Neptune weakly defended herself. She lowered her voice and added, "I did say that Nep Jr and I were goddesses…"

"Although I disagree with her sentiment, Neptune is partially right," Vert interposed from the sidelines. "We should move to Planeptune, acquire Neon's armor, and make haste to Lowee. We shouldn't waste any time for our darling earthling," she declared, placing especial emphasis on the last two words.

"R-right," Neon said, flustering at Vert's comment. "N-no time to l-lose, after all…"

"Alright!" Neptune dramatically bounced out of her seat into a standing position. "I'll go get that armor. You guys just stay put!" Before anyone could protest, she ran out to the balcony and flung herself off, re-entering the girls' field of view a few moments later as Purple Heart.

"She's always being overdramatic," Noire said with a groan, trying and failing to hide her genuine smile. "How long do you think it'll take her to get back?" She asked no one in particular, taking another sip from her teacup.

"She shouldn't be too long," Nepgear answered, turning her gaze from the balcony window back to the group in front of her. "Neptune's pretty fast, and Leanbox and Planeptune are relatively close by."

"So," Neon awkwardly broke the silence, "what do you like to do in your free time? For all the time I've been here, I haven't actually just…relaxed with any of you."

Nepgear perked up and answered without hesitation, "I love to take apart and build different kinds of machines! That's why I got so excited about your armor! I've never seen anything like it!" She thought for a moment before recalling, "I never did give it those modifications you said I could make."

Neon nervously chuckled and replied, "Maybe that's for the best…anyways, what about you, Noire?" She looked at the raven-haired CPU expectantly, a warm smile taking over her face.

"I, uh…" Noire fumbled her words, caught off guard by Neon's innocent smile. She regained her bearings and explained, "I don't get much time to myself, since I work almost all of the day. A lot of the time, I just get roped into whatever shenanigans Neptune's doing that day." She flipped one of her twin-tails back and let out a tremendous sigh.

"I spend much of my time playing '4 Goddesses Online 2'," Vert said without waiting for Neon to ask. "If you'd like, you can make an account and I can play with you sometime," she offered warmly.

"I don't know if I can do that," Neon said, regretful. "Once I get this flash drive issue sorted, I was planning on returning home," she muttered, finding special difficulty in the last two words.

Just as the mood was about to be ruined, though, a loud thud was heard from the balcony, and as the group turned to look at the cause of this interruption, they saw Purple Heart deactivating her transformation, with Neon's armor set on the balcony. Everyone began making their way out of the room, and Neptune took her place on a nearby bench.

"Man, I'm beat," Neptune sang, stretching her limbs out tiredly. "I was flying extra fast just to get this suit here."

"I'm…sorry…" Neon stuttered, flustering and looking away. "I…really didn't mean to…inconvenience you, ma'am…I…"

"Hold that thought," the short goddess interrupted, some energy returning to her. "You weren't inconveniencing anyone. Really. And, you don't need to call me 'ma'am' every time you wanna talk to me, y'know?" She pointed a finger at Neon sharply, which only gave the earthling more pause.

"A-Alright…if you're sure," the girl shyly agreed. She pressed her thighs together and pulled her arms closer to her chest nervously, still looking away from Neptune and the others.

"Now, now," Vert chimed in, bouncing her chest outside of the girl's field of vision. "There is no need to be shy or apologetic. You haven't caused anyone any trouble, and, with your nature, I doubt that you will do so."

"Okay," Neon said with a sigh of relief. "Well, Neptune, are you okay? You do look a bit tired."

"Nah, I'm fine," she said, still sitting down. "While you guys weren't looking, I snuck a Nep Bull, so I've got my energy back," Neptune chirped happily, bouncing out of the bench to prove it.

"So then, shall we go to Lowee?" Vert offered, taking a step closer to the balcony edge.

"Finally, we're actually going," Noire huffed, transforming and edging closer to the balcony's end. She took her place next to Vert, who had activated her transformation just a moment after Noire.

"Alrighty!" Neptune activated her own transformation, and Nepgear followed suit. Neon stepped forward and took Purple Heart and Black Heart's hand, and the five took to the skies.

"This is amazing," Neon dreamily observed. "You get to do this every day?"

"Indeed," Green Heart said rather plainly, looking at Neon's amazed face. "Whether it's discussing political matters or simply visiting one another, we tend to fly across these skies daily."

"If you look ahead, you can see Lowee," Black Heart declared, using her free hand to point out the nation. "It's always snowing there. You can see the clouds from a long way away."

A look of realization flashed across Neon's face as she looked at the winter nation. "So this is why you suggested I bring my armor. How cold is it usually?"

"Lowee's average temperature is below 10 degrees," Purple Heart answered. "I tend to stay in the Basilicom or the Guild when I come here for that very reason."

"If you had bothered to put more insulation on that hoodie of yours, it wouldn't be a problem," Black Heart chided, a smile forming across her face.

"Uh..Noire?" Neon asked, looking up at her carrier. "Your dress in your human form doesn't look very warm either."

The CPU's smile faded as she redirected her gaze in front of her. "It may not look it, but it's quite warm. Better than a hoodie that isn't even a windbreaker, at least."

Green Heart chuckled and asked, "That reaction tells me the opposite of what you meant it to. It really is quite cold for you, isn't it?"

"That's not true!" Black Heart exclaimed, her tone of voice signaling otherwise. "I'll prove it when we land!"

"It isn't exactly a competition," Nepgear stated, trying to end the debate. "I feel a bit cold in Lowee, too."

"Uh…excuse me?" Neon meekly said. "We missed the entrance gate." She nodded towards the structure as best she could, trying to direct the goddesses' attention.

"After what you pulled last time, we're going straight for the Basilicom," Black Heart explained. "Although, something tells me that Neptune just spaced out and didn't think that through." She turned back to Purple Heart, a cocky smile on her features once more.

"I…had that plan in mind before we even left," she hastily rebutted, trying to retain her dignity. "I just knew that you would have been thinking the same thing."

"That pause was quite noticeable, Neptune," Green Heart said with a chuckle. "Are you sure you didn't zone out, as Noire said?"

Purple Heart promptly looked away, eliciting a hearty laugh from the group. As they approached their destination, the goddesses began to slow their flight, and begun their descent a few moments afterward. Within a few moments, they had passed through the clouds and were above the entrance to the Basilicom.

"Is there no balcony to this one?" Neon asked as she was set down. "I didn't see anything like it on the way here."

"Nope!" Neptune responded, having deactivated her transformation. "We hafta go in through the front." She pulled her arms together and rubbed her elbows, trying to stay warm.

"Let us hurry, for Neptune's sake," Vert proposed, walking towards the Basilicom doors. She gave the door a hearty tug and pulled it open, holding it for the rest of her friends with a warm smile.

"No reason to delay," Noire followed up as she made her way towards the open door, tapping the snow off her shoes as she entered. "Come on, you three!" She yelled at the remaining girls, gesturing for them to hurry.

"Got it!" Neptune exclaimed as she ran in, not bothering to dust her shoes off before leaning against a wall and basking in the building's warmth.

"Uh…coming!" Neon sauntered into the open door with Nepgear behind her, following Noire's practice of respect and drying her armor's boots before entering.

Vert closed the door and looked at Neon before suggesting, "This Basilicom is rather maze-like, so you should stay near one of us so as to not get lost."

"A-Alright," Neon agreed, shifting over to Noire. "Got it."

The girls walked without many words, stopping only for Neptune's random shenanigans throughout the hallways. Neon silently admired the building's ornate design, from the decorative and elaborate paintings on the walls to the beautiful and vibrant carpets lining the floor.

Suddenly, though, a large book fell from on high and struck Neptune square on the top of the head, knocking her to the floor in a groaning mess. Everyone stopped and looked around for the cause of this trouble, though they knew the culprits preemptively.

"Direct hit! Good going, Rom!" The more energetic Lowee twin, Ram, ran out into the hallway and recovered the projectile, holding it tightly in her hands.

"Will Miss Neptune be…okay?" She nervously asked, looking at Neptune's distraught figure on the ground. "That looked…painful…"

"She'll be…fine!" Ram answered, her hesitation on Neptune's condition quite obvious. She walked over to her victim and stood over her triumphantly, and Rom followed suit.

Seeing all this, Neon's face contorted with an unreadable mix of emotions. She took slow, measured steps towards the twins, her armor's boots thumping along the ground and sending an echo throughout the halls of the Basilicom. She reached the two Candidates and sat seiza style in front of them.

"Rom and Ram? Are those your names?" The earthling's voice raised and softened, and behind her helmet, the corners of her lips had curved upwards into a bright smile.

"Yep!" Ram seemed quite enthusiastic to meet a stranger, so she jumped in and introduced herself first. "I'm Ram, and this is my sister Rom!" She pointed rather melodramatically towards her sister, which caused her to back away a small bit.

"Hi…what's your name?" Rom shyly asked, looking directly at Neon's helmet.

"Neon," she responded. "I'm named Neon, and I come from Earth." She undid the latch on her helmet and removed it, a slight hissing sound emerging as the air within was released. As she fully removed the item, she pushed some hair out of her face and, somehow, her cap was still on. "Would you…like to…play with me?" She flushed a little bit as she said this, but a huge smile crossed her face as she asked.

"Sure! Rom and I have a ton of games we can play together!" The younger twin enthusiastically bounced towards a room down the hall, leaving her sister and Neon's group behind.

"Wait for me, Ram!" Rom called out, following her sister's track.

"H-hey! No hitting anybody with books!" Neon yelled, following the twins towards the CPU's office, the place of their demise.

"Well, no point in waiting," Noire dryly said. "Let's go." She began to walk rather haughtily towards the office, not waiting for Neptune or the others at all.

"Ugh…did someone get the number of that book?" Neptune grumbled, sitting up and regaining her bearings. "Hey, where did Neon go?"

"Neon went ahead with Rom and Ram," Nepgear explained, helping her sister to her feet. "She seemed really excited to see them."

"We should go as well," Vert said. "We shouldn't make any more delays." She led the way towards the office, and the two Planeptunian goddesses followed suit.


	10. An Earthling’s Heart

AN: Hello and welcome to what should be the chapter where things actually start happening. Lemme sell it straight—I can't write actual fights to save my life. What I can do, though, is write characters decently well (please never mind the fact that my first OC was kinda trash), so I usually develop the characters but forget about the actual plot. But no more!

Also, a guest reviewer has asked me to put a character description of Neon in my bio, and I have done so. Check it out if you're confused about what this chick looks like. Without further ado, let's start!

"Ma'am, is it really true that your nation made a CD in the shape of a character's head before?" Neon, who had exited her armor to bask in the Basilicom's heating, sat cross-legged next to Rom and Ram, who were playing the newest installment of *Lowee Bros. Brawl*.

The petite goddess groaned and nodded. "I didn't even know about it until after its second day on the market. I had no control over those dumbasses."

"That's a fancy way of saying you weren't paying attention to your nation's productions," Noire spoke up from the side. She took a slow sip from her teacup, smirking all the while, and waited for the brunette's response.

She did not disappoint as she clenched her hand around the computer mouse and turned her attention towards Noire and bellowed, "At least I'm not the one who's console takes five damn hours to load a single game. Who's the one not paying attention?!"

Noire did not receive this well, as she set her cup down rather violently and retorted, "That was a consequence of the advanced technology and memory capabilities! With progress comes challenges; you know this!"

Amidst the growing conflict, Neon weakly spoke up, "P-Please, don't fight! N-Not in front of the children!" As the two goddesses instantly snapped their eyes to her, the earthling wilted and weakly stammered in anxiety.

To the girl's surprise, Blanc's gaze softened as she took one last glance at her computer screen. She cleared her throat and said, "Sorry about that. I guess I got caught up in the moment."

"Yeah," Noire agreed. "We shouldn't have let that happen. But seriously, would you stop shaking?" Her expression changed to a reproaching glare as she settled her eyes on Neon once more.

"It's rather embarrassing," Blanc piled on. "For a warrior hailing from a ravaged world, I thought you'd be a lot braver."

Neon crumpled again, but chose not to say anything as she simply wrapped her arms around her knees and curled into a ball. Despair nearly radiated from her as she muttered deprecations to herself and her bangs shadowed her eyes.

Noire grumbled and softened her expression as she corrected herself, "Jeez, I didn't think you'd take it so personally. But seriously, why are you so unconfident in yourself?"

The blonde took a few seconds to react, remaining balled up and wallowing until she slowly raised her head and looked at Noire apologetically. She weakly answered, "Sorry, it's just…I've never had such close friends before. I…I guess I wanted to make a good impression."

"Ooh, our Noire can relate to that!" Neptune suddenly popped her head up from behind a couch, startling Neon as well as the Lowee twins, causing the three to jump in surprise and let out startled yelps that all sounded oddly alike.

"N-Neptune?" Neon stammered. "How long have you been here?"

"Oh, I was here the whole time," she nonchalantly answered. "I was leveling my Sneak skill behind that couch until I got bored. I think I got to 60 or something." She smiled and sat down next to Neon before saying in a painfully obvious whisper, "But yeah, Noire's a total loner. She can relate to your 'no friend' problem."

Noire and Neon flustered and yelled at the same time, "S-Shut up! I am not a loner!"

The earthling spoke alone this time, "I just…didn't have the time while I was surviving in a post-apocalyptic wasteland! Y-Yeah!"

"Oh my goddess, you're just like her," Neptune teased, smiling mockingly with a hand over her mouth. "You'd fit right in in Lastation."

A timely distraction for the two victims came in the form of Vert opening the door and holding a tea tray. With only a smile, she set it down on Blanc's desk and proceeded to hand a cup to each person in the room, but instead giving juice boxes to Neptune and the twins. Once she had set herself down in a chair, chaos quickly ensued.

"Hey Vert," Neptune spoke up, barely stifling laughter. "Neon's a total lon—"

"I am not a loner!" Neon yelled, blushing furiously, scooting a little bit closer to the twins as she did so. "I could have plenty of friends if I tried!"

"Oh my," Vert sang. "It seems we have another Noire in our midst." She giggled to herself and smiled at Neon, awaiting her reaction.

Much to her surprise, however, she did not fluster or outwardly react as she had expected. Instead, the earthling pulled her knees close again and curled into a ball, radiating despair once more and muttering self-deprecations. Her face was covered by her bangs, and a cold sadness seemed to emanate from her.

"Did I…do something wrong?" Vert worriedly asked. "This doesn't look good."

"This same thing happened just a few minutes ago," Blanc said with a groan. "This chick takes everything so damn personally."

Upon hearing this, Neon curled up tighter, tears welling up in her concealed eyes. "I…I guess…I really do…" she whispered to herself, her voice shaky and cracking.

"Woah," Neptune exhaled. "She's got tears and everything." She edged closer to her and patted her back reassuringly. "I didn't mean it to be an insult."

"Neither did I," Vert followed up. "I apologize. I forgot you are not used to our sense of humor and playful teasing." She took a sip from her tea and set her now-empty cup back onto the tray, waiting for a response.

Upon hearing this, Neon seemed to enter some sort of limbo, as she began to violently shake and twitch. She muttered, "I-It's okay, but…I should've k-known you were j-joking…"

She continued on this indecisive breakdown until Blanc coughed to receive everyone's attention. She announced, "While you were busy with your emotions, Neon, I was checking to see if we had anything in Lowee that corresponded to your flash drive."

The girl slowly raised her head and quietly asked, "D-Did you find anything, ma'am?"

"It looks like a retro console from Lowee can fit the input," she answered plainly. As she noticed Neon's face lighting up, she quickly dashed her hopes, "Don't get too excited. It's never that easy."

"Well, what's the problem, then?" Neptune tilted her head in curiosity. "Why can't we just go and grab it?"

"Those consoles aren't being produced anymore, and they're hard to find on online shops," Blanc explained. "The people who have them are very protective of them, and will need serious coaxing to part with them."

"Can't you just use your power as a CPU and make them hand it over?" Neon asked innocently. "It should be pretty easy."

Noire shook her head and answered, "Most of Gamindustri doesn't know you. If she were to use her influence to help you, the people of Lowee might think she was assisting an enemy."

"It'd also make me look bad in front of my nation," Blanc added on. "The people wouldn't like to see me using my power to get a game console."

Neon blew a low whistle and said, "Jeez…I never even thought about that. Being a CPU must be tough work." She moved some hair out of her face and behind her ears while taking a deep breath. "Well, what can we do in the meantime?"

"Unfortunately, there isn't a lot we can do," Blanc deadpanned, standing from her computer chair and taking a seat with everyone else. "I just put out the request for the game console, but don't expect anything to come of it for…a week? Two?" She rubbed her forehead, trying her hardest to think of alternate solutions.

"I really do appreciate this, ma'am," Neon said with a smile. "If there's anything I can repay you with, please don't hesitate to ask me." She rubbed the palms of her gloves together as she looked at the petite goddess with expectance in her eyes, like a maid waiting for her next task.

However, her servile wishes were quashed when Blanc responded, "Not at the moment, no. Although, that attitude would serve you well if you wanted to work in Lowee once this was all said and done."

Neon noticeably winced at this, but before anyone could ask what was wrong, she began, "Truth is, I still haven't decided what I'm going to do once this is all over." She took a small sip from her then untouched tea cup and continued, "I could go back to Earth, but after seeing everything here, I'm not sure. It'd be selfish of me to stay here and forget about my own world, but after all this, I just…I want a normal life."

"We understand," Vert soothingly said, eliciting a nod of agreement from the other goddesses in the room. "If there is any way we can help you, please don't hesitate to ask. You have our support."

Neon looked away, clearly distraught. She declared, "I really do appreciate the offer, but…I've got to do something by myself." She glanced back up and saw everyone's confused reactions. The earthling chuckled and continued, "I thought that this would be a one-person job—I'd get here, find what I needed, and go back. But, ever since I got here, I've been depending on you for…well, everything. I haven't even walked out of a damn building without someone behind me," she gravely said with another wry chuckle.

"What, did you think we would leave you alone in this world you don't know?" Noire disapprovingly asked. "You can't expect to be able to do everything by yourself. And it isn't a problem for us to help you out, so what's the big deal?"

The blonde looked up at Noire, her eyes weak and undecided. "I know, I know…it's just…how am I supposed to lead a world when I can't even lead myself?" She picked herself off the ground and dusted her palms together before continuing, "I need some time. I'll stay in Lowee, but…" She tried and failed to conjure more words, but eventually chose to simply leave the room, leaving the goddesses in a confused silence. Noire could swear she saw tears coming from her eyes as well.

"Well, that was something," Blanc said with a scoff. "If she had just listened to all of us, none of that would have happened." She closed her eyes and took her first sip from her tea, sighing into the cup.

"Well, why don't we go find her?" Ram chimed in, looking up from her doodling paper. "She should still be pretty close by."

"Just leave her alone," Neptune advised, exaggerating her vowels. "Girl's got a lot ta think about, so we should leave her to do that." She looked down at the twin's doodling and felt a massive smile appear on her face. She abandoned the conversation in favor of joining the fun, much to everyone else's chagrin.

"Neptune!" Nepgear chided, trying to regain her attention. "This is serious! She has no Credits, and goodness knows where she could be!" She repeatedly shook her elder sister's shoulders, but the Planeptunian goddess seemed to be immune to her efforts, only expressing mild discomfort at the continuous shaking.

"Aww, but Nep Jr!" Neptune protested, flailing her arms about rather comically. "We can't do anything here! We just gotta let her sort everything out, and come back! Easy!" A sanguine smile crossed her face again as she managed to wriggle free from her sister's grasp and return to her doodling.

"I sure hope you're right…" Noire muttered into her cup with a sigh.

Far away, tears fell into the snow, unseen and unheard.

AN: Ooh, drama. My favorite. In all seriousness, are you noticing another one of my weaknesses? I can't write Rom and Ram to save my life. Even though Neon loves children and it seemed the twins were going to get a lot of focus, Ram was the only one to get dialogue and she had precisely one line. Feels bad, man. XD


	11. Cold

**AN: Guess what? I just remembered what details are! Get ready for a super long description of every little thing, because that's what I did best in my first story! I also remembered how to bold my words (wow you forgot that you're garbage), so no more guessing games with AN's and the actual story.**

 **On a serious note, don't be discouraged that I don't respond to reviews. It's just not a habit that I got into. On my next story (what a good plug), I'll try and remember to respond to as many as possible, if not all of them. Until then, keep the reviews coming (I really am that desperate [kappa]), and enjoy the show! Or try to. Who knows, really.**

Chalky sheets of snow blanketed Lowee, burying streets and house roofs in their cold embrace. Every so often, a chilling breeze would blow by, rattling the bones of any unlucky enough to be outside without adequate clothing. It was rather late, as evidenced by the brilliant yellow-orange streaks adorning the sky and the sun's radiance waning as it moved towards the horizon. Few stores remained open at this hour, with almost all citizens retreating to their houses to escape the relentless frost.

Neon had never been this cold before. Back in Earth, the thick smogs prevented the temperature from falling too low, and even when it was rather brisk, she was always in her armor. The same was not true for the present—in her emotional haste to leave the Basilicom, she had abandoned her armor by the front door, and she was now feeling the consequences of that decision. She was sitting upon a bench in some unremarkable street in the northeastern part of the nation, surrounded by houses whose windows were filled with a lonely blackness and whose doors were shut to the world—to her.

The earthling rubbed her arms with her gloved hands, attempting to beat back the cold. She let out a quivered breath, watching as the vaporous exhalation became visible in the air. Once she felt sufficiently warm, she rested her palms on her knees and locked her elbows as she usually did, trying to find any comfort in this rather uncomfortable situation.

 _I'm weak..._ Neon thought to herself. Her head lowered and her bangs shadowed her eyes as she once again emitted an aura of despair and weakness. _Ever since I got here, I've been relying on them...I can't do anything by myself..._ She curled her knuckles as tears welled in her eyes, with heavy breaths drawn through clenched teeth serving as accompaniment.

After a few minutes of accumulation, the snow atop Neon's cap cascaded downward, piling newly on her shoulders and clinging to her hair. She seemed unfazed by this, however, as she simply continued her self-deprecating line of thought, _I'm supposed to be the savior of Earth, but...but..._ Her thoughts were drowned out by the sound of her crying, and she eventually stopped trying to think and simply let out her emotions in the only way she knew how to.

All around, the snow continued to fall, unabated by the girl's thoughts. It stuck to her hair and piled on her cap, and decorated her uniform and starred the black canvas of her boots and gloves. It filled in the marks where her boots had been, and closed the empty mold where they now were. The freezing air touched the tears on Neon's cheeks, suspending them in place as a lasting reminder of the girl's emotions. Her cheeks were flushed red in an effort to keep warm, but even this failed as snowflakes simply flung themselves upon her and melted, spilling their cold, watery blood over her face.

 _Why couldn't the general send someone else...I...I can't do it..._ Her crying intensified as she remembered home. She was quite far away from her home now, and she had no way of knowing if the people she had known were even still alive. _Everyone's counting on me, but...I'm...not good enough..._

She winced as a small gust of wind blew a snowflake into her eye, melting on contact and blending its essence with her tears. She shivered and rubbed her arms again, taking deep breaths to try and stay warm. Although she had no idea whether or not this practice was helpful, it gave her as much peace of mind as could be hoped for, given her present situation.

 _Everyone just wants me to succeed, but...what if...I fail? What if I can't find something to put this hard drive in? What if...I died in this world?_ Neon cried more intensely as she thought of the different ways she could fail her mission. _But...the people back home wouldn't even know...and_ _the people here wouldn't care if I just...disappeared..._ Her hands left her knees and clung to her arms, desperate to retain what little warmth she still had. She was beginning to seriously regret leaving her armor in the Basilicom.

 _They've got their families...and their own problems...where would I even fit in?_ She cringed as she thought about Neptune and the other goddesses running their nations before and after she left, and how her life would have no impact on theirs. _I'm...so far from home...and I'm...I'm alone..._ She clung to herself tighter, squeezing her arms to her body and her hands to her biceps.

By now, the sun had completely set below the horizon, and the golden blaze was gone from the sky, replaced with the red-orange of a dying fire. The light danced off the snow, casting itself through the air in marvelous patterns that caught the earthling's eye. As someone who had never experienced snow before this, and had only heard of it through anecdotes, Neon's eyes bounced from snowflake to snowflake, observing the way the daylight's last breath gave the surrounding air a beautiful glow.

She shook her head and thought back to the reason she was here to begin with. _Yeah...nobody would care if I...vanished..._ She relaxed her arms, stopping their incessant shaking and slumping them to her sides. Her eyes, once shown the snow's light, tried to catch view of it once more, but her vision was blocked by her tears, freshly streaming as she thought more and more. _After all...I'm weak...alone...worthless...shy...unconfident...I'm..._

 _I'm human..._

She lost herself in thought and looked back down again, letting out quiet sobs that echoed along the houses and walls around her. Nobody answered them, and Neon cried even harder as she noticed this. She cried for several minutes, forgetting about how cold she was, and about the freezing sensation of the suspension of her tears on her face.

Eventually, her legs began to lose feeling, finally losing the battle with the cold. She felt them go numb, and her crying began to slow as she realized what was happening to her body. A few seconds thereafter, she felt the pain from her arms go away, as she lost feeling there as well. Her ears were the last to lose their warmth, giving a tinge of pain as they lost feeling. Although she had expected this result, and was somewhat hoping for it to happen, she felt an instinctive urge to find shelter, and so she stood up, but only made it a few steps before stumbling to the ground, her knees plunging into the snow.

Her mind began to go blank as she picked herself back up but fell almost immediately after, this time sinking her hands into the snow. She attempted to stand again, but could only come to her knees before her strength gave way and she fell backward, her arms sprawling above her head as she stared into the sky. As she saw images of her friends, her homeworld, and even some things from Gamindustri fill her mind and slowly fade to black, a small smile crossed her face.

 _Goodbye, everyone...I leave the rest to you..._ She willingly closed her eyes, and let the numbness wash over her, as she fell into the deepest, most comfortable sleep she could possibly imagine. The snow continued to cover her, and the last thing she could remember was Neptune's worried yell permeating the air.

Neon awoke in a hospital bed, her uniform removed in place of a standard-issue white gown that more spaciously covered all of her features. She noted immediately that she could feel her limbs again, and heaved a small sigh as she pieced together the information she had.

"Hey," Neptune heard her exhalation and perked up. She was sitting in a chair about a meter away from the bed, looking at Neon with concern in her eyes. "You're finally awake."

The earthling did not immediately respond, instead looking around to see where she was. The Basilicom's infirmary was quite large, with a total floorspace of about forty square meters, with about twenty beds in the entire room. A door that bore no label was on the far left wall, and Neon could only assume that it led to more beds. The walls of the room were a ghastly white, with marble tiles lining the ground. The only sounds audible throughout the vicinity were the quiet humming of machinery and the low breathing of its two occupants. A computer screen with several numbers stood to her immediate left, and the girl assumed that this machine was measuring her vital signs. Otherwise, no equipment was hooked up to her, implying that her stay had been relatively short at the time she woke up.

Piecing her thoughts together, Neon finally responded, "I'm sorry, Neptune..." She looked away, unable to bring herself to look into the goddess' eyes. "I caused so much trouble..."

"Pssht, That was nothing," Neptune nonchalantly replied. "I've picked things up that weigh as much as ten you's, at the very least." She flexed her right arm, but wilted at what she saw. "I guess...it doesn't really show, though...hehe." She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly and passed it all off with a smile.

Neon was unfazed, however, as a troubled expression filled her face. "Why'd you do it?"

"Huh?" Neptune asked, confused. She leaned forward slightly in her chair, eyeing Neon intensely. "Whaddya mean?"

The earthling gulped, afraid of this response. She took a deep breath and answered, "I'm not worth it...you should've...let me die..." Neon's words brought on a tense silence, in which tears began to well in her eyes. She did her best to stave them off, but eventually failed as they began to stream down her face, accompanied by quiet sobs.

"You know something?" Neptune asked, piercing the silence. Her words were unanswered, as Neon simply kept crying, her bangs shadowing her eyes again. The goddess was not deterred, though, and continued, "You know Nepgear, right? Wait, you won't answer that." Neptune chuckled at her own joke before she cleared her throat and began to take the situation more seriously.

"When she was young, Nepgear wouldn't go anywhere without me. It worked out because I never did my work, but whenever I got forced outta the house, she was always clinging to me," Neptune explained. "I was fine with it for a while, but it took me a really long time to notice that she didn't have the confidence to do anything by herself." Her expression worsened and she lowered her head a smidgen as she elaborated, "I really wish I had caught on sooner, but, me being me, I was too caught up in the games or the pudding. Eventually, I got separated from her for a really long time because of a super strong enemy, and she had to grow strong enough to beat who I couldn't."

Neon looked away and ran a hand through her hair, quietly asking, "What does this have to do with me? Why are you telling me this?"

Neptune's expression became one of indignance as she protested, "Hey! You don't just cut off a Nep when she's being all expository! Cool it!" She cleared her throat and resumed her explanation, "Anyways, Nep Jr became super strong—stronger than me. She built her own group of friends and beat up the baddies that had the world in a choke hold, and bailed me and the other CPUs out. Do ya know what she did after she saved me was?"

The earthling did not respond; she knew where Neptune was going with this. She pushed more hair out of her face nervously and sighed. This prompted Neptune to remark, "Wow. You're really bent outta shape. Anyways, the first thing she did after saving me was...drum roll please..." Neptune stomped her feet on the ground melodramatically, trying to create more energy for the situation than actually existed.

"She cried," she said rather uneventfully.

Neon took a deep breath and looked at her lap, where she had linked her fingers together uneasily. "Neptune...I'm thankful for the story, but...I'd rather you left me alone..." Her voice cracked as she spoke, and as she thought for even a second, tears formed in her eyes again.

"No, silly, you missed the whole point." Neptune stood from her seat and took place next to Neon's saddened form. "Crying isn't a show of weakness. It doesn't make you pathetic or wimpy. Nep Jr was super strong—stronger than me, Noire, and nearly everyone, even if they wouldn't admit it," she said with a scoff. She ran her hand through Neon's hair and barely stopped herself from making a comment on its texture before she hummed, "She still cried. She cried just a little bit ago, in a whole situation involving another dimension that I'd rather not discuss. That doesn't make her any less strong."

Neon was now completely crying, unable to hold back her tears. She grabbed Neptune's hand that had rested upon her cheek, and weakly protested, "But I'm..."

"You're strong," the goddess interrupted. "You took on a job that you knew nothing about that had you going to a strange new world with strange new people—even if they are adorable and cute." She giggled at her own compliment and resumed, "You didn't know anything, and yet you took a huge chance for your world. That's a form of strength." Her expression became a serious stare that starkly contrasted with her usual persona. "Please, keep crying. It tells me you're still you."

Neon could no longer protest as she stopped holding back her emotions. She exploded into tears, muttering things to herself that nobody could ever hope to understand. Neptune opened her arms and Neon promptly obliged the gesture, sitting up and leaning into Neptune's chest, her head buried into the petit girl's shoulder and soaking her hoodie.

"I'll...I'll be strong..." Those words echoed off of more than just the walls.


	12. Hiatus Notice and Further Information

Yo. It's ya boi, The Lost Hokage.

Okay, time to cut that out.

I'm putting this story on hiatus. The reason for this is school, plain and simple. I've lost a significant chunk of time, and what I do have is being dedicated to work as well as other stuff (mostly relaxation, I've really lost the spare brainpower to dedicate to writing). I meant to write this message a while ago, actually, so I apologize for the wait on this.

I'd like to clarify that this is NOT a discontinuation. I have no plans for ending this story prematurely. Once I do get this back in business, I'll finish it, and I'll also start up a new project that I've been thinking about for a while.

Peace out, and keep on thinking.


	13. Deactivation Notice

I am writing this to inform you that I am going to be deactivating my account. The full details will be on my user profile.

Signing out,

The Lost Hokage


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